Awakening of the Blinding One
by Suwako20
Summary: Legends tell of a blinding being of incredible power, and how it will one day come to destroy the world. The signs are already showing, pokemon are turning to stone, alien monsters are invading the world... and it all seems to have something to do with me. PMD universe. Collab work.
1. Chapter 1

The first thing I felt was pain. Slowly drifting back into consciousness, I groaned and shifted to grasp at my head. It throbbed painfully, and when I tried to open my eyes, I was blinded by a bright light. Hissing, I shut my eyes again.

I blinked my eyes open, testing them. My vision swam dizzily, and my hands were so cold that I couldn't even feel it when I pressed them into the snow beneath me. My headache had distracted me from the intense cold that was wrapped around my body. It surrounded me like a blanket of ice. Still, I somehow managed to push myself up into a seated position. I peered around for a moment, wondering where I was and how in the world I got there.

I was surrounded by snow-covered pinetrees, and snow gently drifted down from the white sky. I was grateful that the chill numbed the ache in my head, but the rest of my body was not nearly as happy. I wrapped my arms around myself to try and block out the cold, but it didn't help much. My teeth were already chattering and my hands were numb.

Since when was it winter?

The trees looked huge, much larger than I was used to. I must've been out in the middle of nowhere... maybe I was on a mountain? I couldn't remember a thing of how I got here. I feared I would freeze if I stayed here too long. At least the place seemed quiet, and non-threatening- even though I had no idea how to get home.

To my right, I heard the shifting of leaves. A twig snapped loudly. I jumped with a yelp and turned towards the sound, the movement making my head spin.

Well... it used to be non-threatening.

"W-who's there?!" I called, grasping at my head to steady my thoughts. If I was going to need to run, my head would need to let me walk straight first.

As if in response to my words, a small face poked itself out of the bushes. It seemed to be a white fox, with large, vibrant blue eyes. For a moment I was mesmerised by its eyes- I had never seen anything like it. I stared at it in awe as it stepped out of the bushes, sniffing at me curiously. Its fur seemed to shimmer like fresh snow, making it blend into the icy wilderness.

While I was out of my element, this graceful creature was definitely meant to be here.

I opened my mouth to speak, but suddenly my headache stung at me and I gasped instead, keeling over and grapsing at my head. I could barely think through the pain, but one thought still managed to come to the forefront of my mind. Why was this happening to me?

Something cold gently pressed against my arm. I could barely feel it- the rest of me was already frozen- but the soft movement managed to distract me from my pain. I unclenched my teeth and blinked my eyes open. My headache disappeared in an instant as I reeled back in surprise, realizing with a start that the fox had approached me. It had placed its paw on me as if trying to comfort me.

But that wasn't what shocked me. The fox was definitely not small like I originally thought.

It was the same size as me!

My fear made it hastily back away, a wary look crossing its face. It stood before me with its paw lifted awkwardly, not knowing where to put it anymore. "Are you okay? I didn't mean to scare you!" It said with a soft, feminine voice.

Huh..?

With my fear abandoned just as quickly as it appeared, I blinked at her curiously. Did she just... speak?

My silence prompted her to speak again, "how did you get here? This is much too high a climate for a pokemon like you. Did something happen?" She frowned worriedly.

My head spun for more reasons than just my headache. How could an animal be talking? Did she mention... Pokemon?

Was I crazy? Was I hallucinating? Did people hallucinate when they were about to freeze to death? I never really looked into it before, I didn't think I'd ever be in a situation like this. Oh god, I was dying wasn't I?

For the first time I noticed her tail. Or should I say- tails. Six sparkling, white tails waved around behind her, and as she tilted her head in concern I noticed the cute little bangs that sat atop her head. She wasn't a fox at all: she was an alolan Vulpix! But... how was that possible?

I was definitely crazy.

My blank, uneasy silence made the Vulpix clear her throat nervously. "Hey... did you hear me? Can you understand me?"

I debated the merits of talking to my own hallucinations. I nodded hesitantly, ignoring the wave of dizziness the movement brought. She calmed visibly. "Oh, thank goodness," she sighed in relief, "look, we need to get you out of here before you freeze. I can bring you down the mountain if you're lost?" She smiled at me kindly, clearly aware of my unease and trying to make me calm down.

I decided to open my mouth this time. Finding my voice was surprisingly difficult, but I managed to choke out a few words. "Wh-what... a-are you?" My voice stuttered along with my frozen, chattering teeth.

The Vulpix tilted her head, narrowing her eyes in confusion. "I'm... I'm a Vulpix. A pokemon- just like you. Are you... uhm, is something wrong?"

I blinked incredulously. Me? A Pokemon? I opened my mouth to tell her I was human, but her words promted me to finally take a glance at my body. My words caught in my throat. I turned my hands over in awe- or should I say- my paws. I had fuzzy brown arms... and a round little body. No wonder everything had looked so large ever since I got here, no wonder it was so cold. I had no clothes, and I was tiny- I was... a Chespin.

I looked just like a Chespin.

I gaped at myself, and for a moment I thought I'd faint. How? How had this happened?

Was this for real?

"I'm... sorry." A voice made me jump out of my stupor. The Vulpix eyed me with a different kind of concern this time. She was definitely thinking there was something wrong with my head. Well, thats something we had in common.

She tilted her head uncomfortably. "I don't... understand. Is there... something wrong with you? Do I need to get help?"

I shook my head, wanting it to stop spinning for a second. "Oh, th-there's definitely s-something wrong with me. I've turned into a Chespin and I'm halucinating f-f-fictional pokemon that c-can talk."

The Vulpix reared back indignantly. "Halucinating? Fictional? I definitely exist! I'm standing right here in front of you!" She insisted, a little miffed.

I only stared back at her doubtfully. She sighed and looked away in thought, trying to wave away her irritation.

"You said... that you turned into a Chespin? What pokemon did you used to be?" She asked, and she seemed genuinely compassionate.

I shook my head again. "I wasn't a p-pokemon. I w-was a human."

She frowned uncomfortably, her concern about my mental health returning. "That's... I've never heard of a 'human' before. Maybe we need to get you out of the cold, you're already losing your mind."

Before I could insist about my identity, she stepped up to me and helped me climb to my feet. "C'mon. You need a doctor. There's one nearby."

"W-well, I..." I tried to say, but I honestly couldn't argue against that. Once I was warm, maybe everything would start making sense again... "O-okay." I stuttered instead.

Walking took some getting used to, but the Vulpix was patient with me. Eventually I managed to get my weird, frozen body to move, and we made our way down the mountain.


	2. Chapter 2

As the Vulpix lead me down the mountain-side I found myself looking around, trying to ignore the chill in my bones. Looking over the incline of the mountain, I could barely see any landscape beneath all the snowy fog. But from what I could see, I could hardly believe it. Everything seemed so much bigger now... I was so small a hollow log looked like a good place to hide.

It made me feel so small... and vulnerable...

I could only hope the Vulpix could get me some real help. I wasn't sure I could handle being this small forever.

After climbing (or in my case, stumbling) down the gentle slope of the mountain for a while, we reached a solitary building that was built into the side of the mountain. The Vulpix smiled encouragingly at me. "Here we are! We can get you some help here." I tilted my head at it uneasily.

It seemed surprisingly regular-sized to me, at least compared to everything else. Considering how small I was now, it was probably more like a building made for children. Its red roof was covered in snow, to the point where it almost seemed to be a part of the landscape. Its white walls made it blend in with the surroundings so well I wondered if that was the intention. One wouldn't see it unless they were right in front of it.

Climbing down to it, I grasped onto the Vulpix's back to keep my balance. We had to walk around to its opposite side, finding the rounded red door sidled up against the side of the mountain. Despite this places isolated location, it seemed cozy enough. It would be better than staying out in the cold any longer, that was for sure.

The Vulpix raised a paw and lightly scratched at the door- her form of knocking, I assumed.

Silence stretched on for a long moment, the air still and empty. The Vulpix coughed awkwardly. "She must be busy..." She raised her paw to scratch the door again, but it flung open the moment she was about to touch it. "Alola!" A cutesy voice rung out loudly.

Startled, the Vulpix stumbled back with a gasp, "ah!" and I fell back with her, as i had been holding onto her for balance. The figure in the doorway tilted her head curiously. "Can I... help you?" She asked awkwardly, clearly not very used to answering the door.

I blinked at her in awe. It was another pokemon; a Happiny. She was even smaller than me, and as she frowned up at us, I couldn't help but gape back at her. "Is this for real? Why are there so many pokemon around here...?" I breathed, barely speaking above a whisper.

The Happiny raised an eyebrow at me and glanced at the Vulpix, who had managed to collected herself. The Vulpix cleared her throat and lowered her head to be more equal with the small pokemon. "Uh, Alola, little one. Is your mother working today? We need to get this one into someplace warm, he's very confused and sick from the cold."

The Happiny nodded very seriously as she listened to Vulpix's words. When the Vulpix finished, She immediately lit up as if all her seriousness had never happened. "Well come in, then!" She chirped, throwing her little arms into the air and stepping to the side so we could enter. Despite myself, I bit back a small grin, charmed by her cute behaviour. Even when I felt so grim, it was nice to meet someone so unquestionably friendly.

"Thank you," Vulpix sighed in relief, bringing the two of us into the room and Happiny shut the door behind us. "Now, where-" the Vulpix started, but was interrupted by Happiny jumping up to us and lifting me into her tiny little arms.

"Waah-!" I yelped, scrambling to keep my balance in her grip. Her body was already smaller than I was tall, and her arms could barely grip me. I practically climbed onto her face, trying not to fall and hit my already aching head.

Vulpix was inclined to protest, "Um! I don't think that's-!" But her words were lost as Happiny took off in a run, moving much faster than my spinning head could handle. I could barely see where she was taking me, blinded by my dizziness. I could vaguely hear her humming excitedly from under my grasp. How could she see where she was going...?

When we came to a stop, I managed to calm my headache for long enough to look around. I blinked my wide watery eyes around at the room. It seemed to be a makeshift check-up room, looking much more like a moderated guest room than a professional hospital. Still, it had a hospital bed, a checkup table, an IV and many other equipment I didn't know the names of; so I was at least relatively confident that I was in good hands.

Speaking of the checkup table, a small frog pokemon sat upon it, getting its leg checked by a much larger pokemon. The doctor- as I assumed she was- was almost three times my size. She resembled Happiny- so she must've been a Blissey. I didn't ever anticipate that a Blissey could look so intimidating, but when I was so much smaller, I felt like she could squash me easily.

Her voice muffled from under my fur, Happiny sang happily, "Mommy! Mommy! This pokemon is sick, please help him!" She hopped up and down to get her mothers attention, managing to do nothing but make me queasy. "Please stooop..." I mewled weakly.

Beyond turning her head and saying, "Happiny! put that poor Chespin down!" Blissey ignored her daughters antic. She turned back to the Froakie sitting on her check up table and handed him two tiny little crutches. "There you go. Next time you think of going skiing, I suggest someplace more... regulated. You were lucky to only get a bad sprain this time, but who knows what could've happened to you!"

The Froakie waved her off casually, "I know, I know. I'll be smarter next time, I promise!" From his tone, I doubted he would.

I climbed down off Happiny at the same time the Froakie was helped down to the floor. I plopped down into a seated position, sighing in relief. Finally, a warm place for me to sit and not need to move at all.

As the Froakie slowly walked on his crutches passed me, we glanced at each other. He tilted his head, but didn't say anything. I watched as he left, absently wondering if there was something about me that made him look at me so curiously. Did I look crazy?

From behind me, Blissey sighed. "Let me see what we have here, huh?" When I turned to looked, I realized she had stepped up to me. My ears folded back against my head in a brief moment of fear- shes huge- but she seemed not to notice, bending down and gently lifting me onto her checkup table. I happily laid back and stared up at the warmly lit ceiling. It was much easier to look at than the blinding snow.

As the Blissey took my temperature and checked my body for injuries, I absently heard the Vulpix enter the room, her movements hesitant and unsure. "Oh! There you are." She sighed with relief. I found myself paying closer attention to her words than those of the doctor. She spoke softly to Happiny, and I tried my hardest to listen in. Blissey suddenly gasped, overtaking the sound of their conversation.

"Oh my stars! You have a horrible wound on your head!" She said, blinking in surprise. "That must hurt terribly!"

I groaned. "It does."

She tisked, almost as if disappointed in me. "Its a skull fracture. Fortunately, it's not very deep, so it should heal just fine, no permanent damage done!" Her serious voice slipped into a happy singsong by the end. "It seems you have a bit of a bad concussion and a fever, so it'd be best if you stayed here for a few days."

I nodded, regretting the movement immediately. "Uhg... okay..."

Blissey wordlessly began searching her desk for supplies, preparing to clean and fix my injury. The room was silent, Happiny and Vulpix watching silently. I shifted uncomfortably. In the usual context, I really didn't like being around doctors. While getting medical help was much preferable to going without, I still couldn't help but feel unease as Blissey collected her equipment. I'd much prefer to think about what the Vulpix and Happiny were talking about. I distracted myself by wondering what I had missed of their conversation...

"Alright, let's get that injury fixed up!" Blissey sang cheerfully.

Happiny leapt to attention, turning to Vulpix. "Time to go! Gotta work!" She puffed herself out seriously. Vulpix laughed lightly and nodded. "Okay." She smiled hesitantly at me, "I'll come back when you're done."

As she disappeared out the door, Happiny stepped up beside her mother, ready to help if needed. Blissey placed her tools on a tray beside the checkup table and turned to me. She gently started to clean my head, speaking gently to divert my attention away.

"So... how did you get this big ol' bump?" She asked lightly, but a part of me still felt chastised, as if she was my mother and was sick of my antics. I avoided her eyes, staring into the ceiling instead. "I... don't know. I just... woke up like this. I was in the middle of the forest and i have no idea how- ouch!" I wailed, my head stinging at me suddenly, making me flinch. Blissey jumped away, "Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't think it'd be so tender..."

The pain faded back to its usual chronic ache. I sighed and she hesitantly got back to work. Blissey cleared her throat. "So you don't remember, huh?"

I nodded as subtly as possible.

"I see... It's likely that its your head injury is causing your amnesia." Blissey said softly. "I'm sure you'll get your memories back- I've had other amnesiac patients regain their lost memories. It could take a while, though." As she spoke, she began binding the wound. I'd be out of here sooner than I initially thought.

Still, I didn't feel like this exactly... fixed everything. Now that I thought about it, there was more I couldn't remember than just what happened to me. I couldn't remember my past friends, or family, or anything. I suddenly became lost in my thoughts, struggling to find something I could remember. How had I not noticed before?

"I- I still remember... my name." I mumbled weakly. "And- and that I was human. But I don't... I don't remember anything else... and I-" I cut myself off with a gasp of pain, flinching as my headache stung at me again. Blissey finished wrapping my head and moved away with a frown.

"Human?" She asked. "I'm afraid I don't know what that means... I've never heard of anything like that."

I sighed, sitting up slowly and hanging my feet over the edge of the table. "I was afraid you'd say that..." I mumbled, hunching over tiredly. I was really in over my head, wasn't I? What was I supposed to do? How was I going to get home if I didn't know where it was? How was I going to get back to being human again?

Blissey patted my back gently, bringing me out of my thoughts. "Still, it was very nice to meet you." She said gently, a warm smile on her face. I attempted a small smile in return to be polite, but I wasn't sure it worked.

Moving away from me for a moment, Blissey began wordlessly cleaning up. She turned to Happiny, who was silent through the entire exchange. "Please let our guest back in, sweetie." Happiny nodded happily, "yes sir!" she sang, clearly waiting the entire time to get an order from her mother. She rushed out of the room and immediately the Vulpix returned.

"How is he?" She asked with a soft, concerned smile. Blissey stepped up to me and placed a comforting hand on my back. "He's in good shape. He'll be good as new in a few days." She smiled at me brightly, but I could only stare blankly back. Vulpix seemed a bit skeptical. "So... there's nothing wrong with his head?"

Blissey shook her head. "Nope! The fracture wasn't nearly serious enough to hurt his brain." Her happy disposition faded a little. "Well, I suppose he does have a concussion and some nasty amnesia..." Vulpix tilted her head. "Are you sure that's all? He said he was... hallucinating."

Blissey hummed thoughtfully, turning to me. "Really?" I nodded hesitantly, but I was starting to think this was all too real. None of them had even heard of humans... and this all seemed to really be happening.

Blissey nodded to herself. "Well, concussions can occasionally cause hallucinations..." She shook her head. "But your injury is not nearly severe enough. I think you're just confused from all the excitement. If the problem persists, though, we can worry about it. But for now, I'm more concerned about your amnesia."

I blinked in surprise. Vulpix seemed content with her deduction, and hummed with interest. "How much did you forget?" She asked curiously.

I eyed them doubtfully. Blissey grinned, not deterred by my silence. She shifted, lifting me into her arms and placing me softly onto the floor. The Vulpix stepped up to me, smiling sadly.

"I'm sorry if I was rude to you." She said with a small bow. "Can you tell us everything you remember?" I didn't respond for a long moment, staring back at her blankly. Blissey sat down next to us, but she still towered over us. I wondered whether answering would maked them reconsider their deduction that I was sane. Talking about humans some more would only confuse them.

Still, I decided to slowly nod. Vulpix lit up, which encouraged me more than I expected it to. "Well..." I hesitated. "My name is Moss, and I... before all this, I wasn't a Chespin."

Blissey gasped, shocked at the revelation, but Vulpix frowned with a different realization. "I can't believe I never asked your name..." She mumbled softly. "I'm... I'm Snowflake." She said, lifting a paw as if to shake. I hesitated, but reached out and gripped it. She shook it twice and nodded. "Nice to meet you, Moss." I could see a resolve forming in her eyes. I attempted a smile for the second time, and this time I think it worked. "You too."

Blissey mused as I let go of Snowflakes paw. "What pokemon did you used to be, Moss?" She asked, intrigued.

I opened my mouth to respond, but I paused. "Ah-... I don't remember." I mumbled weakly. Snowflake frowned, but said nothing.

Blissey tisked. "What a shame..." She stood, walking away from us. "Happiny!" She called, and the small baby pokemon arrived in mere seconds. "Yes mommy?" She squeaked. Had she been listening in?

"You'll take them to their room now, won't you dear?" Blissey asked. Happiny jumped energetically, "yes sir, mama!"

Immediately she came running at me, and I cringed, ready for her to pick me up again. Before she could, Snowflake cleared her throat pointedly. Happiny stopped, standing right before me. "Oh! Right! No carrying the dizzy guy!" Happiny said, nodding at her seriously.

Instead of picking me up, she grabbed my paws and pulled me to my feet. I felt a wave of dizziness upon standing, but I managed to gain my balance. Happiny slowly walked me out of the room, and Snowflake followed with a bright smile on her face. Before she left, she turned back to Blissey and nodded thankfully. "Thank you for your help." She said.

Blissey nodded back. "It's what I do!" She sang, and with that, we were off.

Being able to actually see the contents of the house this time was appreciated. I was surprised at how homey and warm it was, with carpets and a warm fireplace flickering in the living room as we passed. A few bandaged pokemon were sitting in front of the fire to stay warm, including the Froakie from earlier. I made eye contact with him for a moment but quickly looked away again.

We reached a hallway with several guest rooms, most of which had 'do not disturb' signs hung on the doorknobs. We approached one that was bare, and Happiny opened the door with a flourish. "Here ya go!" She sang, her loud voice making my headache sting. The room was relatively small, with a small circular window looking out over the mountain view, which let in the only light. It had two hay beds, and a counter for pokemon to put their stuff. Why would anyone want to sleep on hay...?

Happiny carefully helped me down into one of the two hay beds. "Come get me or mommy if you need anything else!" Happiny announced with a twirl, before turning and rushing out of the room.

Snowflake shut the door and silently walked up to me. She sighed, sitting down on my bed next to me. "How are you feeling?" She asked worriedly.

I looked down at my feet, avoiding her bright blue eyes. "I'm fine... I think." I struggled to put all my feelings into words. I felt alone... and lost... and I couldn't remember the life I left behind. Choking back my inner conflict, I forced myself to speak. "My headache is getting better already. I think I'll... I'll be fine, soon."

Snowflake remained silent, looking over me with a thoughtful look in her eye. I pried my eyes away from the floor and peered back at her. "I wouldn't be fine, though, if you hadn't helped me. So... thank you..." I said meekly.

She smiled brightly, and my anxiety faded considerably. "Hey... since you don't really remember anything... do you know where you live?" I shook my head. She hummed. "I wish you could come stay with me, but it isn't a good place for you." Snowflake looked away, still trying to figure out a solution. "I guess... when the doctor lets you out, we'll climb down the mountain and find you a place to stay."

She turned to me, "Is that okay?"

I blinked at her, a bit lost for words. I supposed that, for the time being, it'd be best if I found a place to stay; at least until until my memory returned. After all, Blissey said they'd come back. Surely they would... eventually...

"Yeah. Sure thing." I said, nodding at Snowflake with fake confidence. She smiled softly, and we sat together in easy silence for a while.

"Well, we should get some rest, huh?" Snowflake said, shifting onto her feet and walking over to her own bed, sitting on it and facing me. "You need your sleep if your going to recover, after all."

As if on cue, I yawned. She giggled. I frowned jokingly at my perfectly timed yawn, making her laugh again. Feeling a bit lighter, I sighed and plopped down on my bed, staring up at the ceiling again. "Fine, I'll go to bed." I said with a joke frown. Snowflake breathed in amusement at that, lying down herself.

I felt a small smile drift onto my face. A part of me felt that I used to make jokes very often. I felt much more in my element, now that I could relax for a moment. Even in this weird- so very weird- situation, I could still try and be myself.

"...Uhm, one last thing," I forced myself to say, my voice loud in the silence that had stretched over us. I heard Snowflake hum in response. "Snowflake is a very pretty name. It... suits you."

I could hear the smile in her voice as she spoke. "Thank you, Moss. I... I will be here for you, when you wake up."

I smiled, my eyes drifting shut. With my headache forgotten, I slept well that night.


	3. Chapter 3

"Moss..."

"Moss..."

"Can you hear me?"

A voice called out to me, rousing me from my comfortable, mindless slumber. My consciousness faded in slowly, and I found myself surrounded by nothingness. Looking around, I still wasn't quite aware enough to comprehend what was going on.

"Where am I?" I asked into the nothingness. My voice echoed around me, as if I was in a large empty room. I couldn't see or feel anything, but for some reason I was unbothered by this.

The darkness didn't respond to my call for a long moment. I started to fade away, my shaky consciousness threatening to fall back asleep; but from somewhere I couldn't pinpoint, that same voice sighed in relief.

"Thank the stars, you're alive!" The voice said, echoing from all directions. The voice was feminine and youthful, but definitely not childish. I could sense a sturdy intelligence behind those words. "Listen, Moss, I'm talking to you through your dreams."

I breathed in realization. This was a dream... Suddenly I felt wide awake, and I somehow knew that even though this was a dream- it was also very real.

"I don't have long. Those beasts that separated us have been following my trail and could catch me at any time. Where are you? Are you somewhere safe?" The voice asked, suddenly speaking much faster. My mind spun, struggling to keep up with everything she was saying.

This person was talking like they knew me? Her voice held a familiarity for me I couldn't ignore. She seemed almost… comforted by my presence?

"Who are you?" I asked, ignoring her questions. I wasn't going to tell her anything until I could trust her. "I lost my memory, so I have no idea who you are."

She didn't respond. Total silence answered me for a short moment. Then, "I was afraid something like this would happen. But you're alive! That's all that matters. As long as you're alive, everything will be okay." Despite her words, she sounded much more worried now. "Are you alright? Besides your memory?"

I shrugged even though it was too dark to see me; I suspected if she could see me she wouldn't have even asked. "I've turned into a Chespin... and I'm pretty beat up. You must know I was a human, right? Are those 'beasts' the reason I'm like this?"

There was a short pause. "I understand you have a lot of questions, but right now I don't have the time to answer them. Where are you?" Her voice was suddenly demanding; but I could sense panicked urgency beneath her words, which prompted me to answer honestly. "I don't know... It's a snowy mountain, I'm at a little home-made clinic and it's in the middle of nowhere."

She hummed thoughtfully. "That's… hm. Yes, I think I know where you are. Listen, at the mountain's base, there's a town; it has a machine that keeps the beasts at bay. You need to get there as soon as possible. It's the closest place to you that's safe."

My mind swam, dizzy from all the information I couldn't begin to process. Before I could properly respond, she spoke up again.

"Do not delay, not even a minute! The beasts have been on my trail and they could easily find yours! I'm sorry I can't tell you more, but I'll meet you at that town as soon as I can. I'll explain more then."

I jumped, afraid she was going to leave. I needed more, I still didn't understand anything! "Wait! I- I'm injured and I can't- I can't leave-"

"You have to! I have to go, but please... you need to go too- Now. Be safe, Moss. I hope I'll see you soon."

-

I woke up with a gasp, jumping into a seated position. I breathed heavily for a moment, wavering slightly, lightheaded from the sudden movement. My head suddenly throbbed at me and I clenched my teeth, reaching up to cradle my head. This stupid headache! I could hardly think!

I took deep breaths, thinking hard about my dream. It was hard to focus, but... I was sure that dream was real. It had to be.

Or maybe I had gone totally crazy. Either way, I had already decided to go along with this crazy world, what made a weird dream any different?

If that dream really was real, I just spoke to someone from my forgotten past. If I went to that closeby town, I could speak to her in person! Was she human? What was all this talk about us being in danger? Should I really jump up in the middle of the night and run away?

I turned, blinking through the darkness at Snowflake. She slept silently across from me, her beautiful white fur almost glowing in the darkness. A part of me didn't want to wake her. I had been enough of a burden on her already, I should just disappear into the shadows of the night, and she wouldn't need to worry about me anymore. It would be better if I just let her sleep and go on my own.

The other, stronger part of me didn't want to leave her. She had helped me, and I was already finding myself fond of her. She was the only sure friend I had, and even though she thought I was crazy, she was still willing to help me. I couldn't... betray that.

Plus, she was the only one who really knew where the town was.

Slowly, I pulled myself to my feet. Stumbling over to her, I lightly shoved at her shoulder. "Snowflake, wake up!" I called softly.

She groaned and rolled over onto her stomach, squinting at me through the darkness. "Moss...? What time is it?" She mumbled tiredly. Rubbing at her face with her paws, she lifted her head and peered out the window. The sun had yet to rise, and she frowned.

"I don't... is something wrong, Moss?" She asked, turning to me with concern. "Are you hurting? Do I need to go get the doctor?"

I shook my head hurriedly. "You remember the town you mentioned yesterday, the one closeby?"

Confusion crossed over her face, but she nodded. I clenched my hands into fists worriedly. Now all I had to do was convince her that we needed to go, and that I was definitely not insane for listening to the strange voice in my dream.

So… that's exactly how I should not word it to her.

"I know this sounds... even more crazy than you already think I am- but someone contacted me through my dreams. She said we need to get to that town as soon as possible." I paused, letting her take that in. She frowned at me. After a moment of searching for any sign that I was joking, Snowflake sighed.

"Moss... go back to sleep. You won't recover if you don't get a good amount of sleep." I opened my mouth to protest, but she shook her head. "We'll... we'll go to the town tomorrow morning, okay? But only if you go back to bed." She said, eyeing me seriously. She wasn't taking me seriously.

"No. We're going now." I snapped at her.

"What?" She blinked in surprise, gaping at me and taken aback by my sudden seriousness.

Shocked at my own attitude, I took a moment to collect myself. I held my hands in front of my body pleadingly. "Please... We can't stay here. It isn't safe. The voice said that… that town will keep us safe."

Snowflake furrowed her brow thoughtfully, and for once seemed to be taking my words seriously; if only because I seemed to believe it so strongly. "Safe? From what?" She asked doubtfully.

I opened my mouth to respond, "I-"

RRROOOAAARRR!

Jumping in shock, the both of us leapt to attention, wide awake and looking around anxiously. From outside the room, a booming roar had suddenly rung out; starling us out of our conversation. It sounded close... and very angry.

Snowflakes eyes were wide, wildly flickering around the quiet, empty room. "What was that!? I've never heard anything like it..."

I licked my lips nervously, ignoring the pounding in my head. "I think... That's it. The beast."

A part of me was wildly afraid of the fact that we weren't running for our lives right now. If these things were as serious as the voice made them seem, we were in grave danger. A smaller part of me was relieved that this was actually happening and I wasn't insane. But it was admittedly a very small part.

I turned to Snowflake, ready to run at any moment. "The voice said beasts were chasing me! We have to go now before everyone here gets hurt!"

Snowflake turned on me, panic filling her eyes. "What!? What do you mean it's chasing you!? How's the town supposed to keep you safe!?"

"They have a machine, she said it keeps them out!" I grabbed one of her front paws, pulling it with me as I stumbled backwards. "Please... we have to go. There's so many sick pokemon here, we can't let them get hurt because of me!"

Snowflake stumbled after me, her face blank. Confusion had overwhelmed her, but when another roar came, much louder this time, her expression steeled. "O-okay... I don't- I don't understand what's going on, but I-... I trust you, Moss."

I nodded at her gravely and- letting go of her paw- I turned and ran to the door, throwing it open. I ran down the hallway with Snowflake close behind.

I tried my best to keep up the pace, but my head throbbed in line with my heart, and with every step I stumbled more and more. I tried to muscle through it, but when I finally collapsed, Snowflake ran up beside me and caught me. I gripped her back, trying to regain my balance.

We were almost to the door, the living room empty and the fireplace extinguished. Nobody would see us leave.

We picked up the pace again, and this time I linked one arm around her neck. Throwing open the door, we were just quick enough to see a red, eight foot tall monster approaching menacingly just outside the house. 'Oh crap,' I thought, eyes wide. I wasn't sure what to anticipate but it wasn't.. that. It turned to me, and the moment we made eye contact I slammed the door in its face.

Snowflake and I turned our backs to the door, bracing it. There was no way we'd keep it out, but there was nothing else our panicked minds could think of.

Two feet beside us, the wall of the clinic suddenly burst open, and we screamed in shock. The wall was replaced with a large red hand that had punched through it effortlessly. It was big enough to hold my entire body. I did not like my odds of surviving this.

The hand retracted, and the huge bulging beast must've bent over, as it poked its long needly nose into the building, peering around to look for me. I pressed myself as close to the door as my tiny body would allow.

Suddenly, a water gun splatted the beast in the face, and it reared away indignantly. ROOOOAAAARRRR! It cried, and I could only gape in shock as the Froakie from earlier raced out of the guest hallway, totally ignoring the injury on his knee. He turned to us.

"What are you doing just standing there!?" He shouted, his face set seriously. "Get out of here!"

Before I could respond, Snowflake nodded at him. She swiftly lifted me onto her back and ran out the door. I scrambled to wrap my arms around her neck, and in my dizziness I could barely see another water gun shoot out of the house, hitting the beast in its face and distracting it away from our escape.

I had no idea why the Froakie was helping us, but I'd take all the help I could get.

We slipped down the mountain side, and I knew we'd be able to go faster if I wasn't leaving Snowflake unbalanced. She struggled not to slip and fall under my weight, and the steadily increasing incline of the slope wasn't helping matters.

REEEEEAAAAAAHHH! A different roar erupted from the trees to our side, and Snowflake stumbled to a stop as a human-sized creature stepped into our sights.

The sudden stop made my head spin, I could hardly see through all the spinning. I could see the creature glowing through the darkness, as if lit up by little LEDs. It advanced on us, and Snowflake quickly deduced it to be another beast, not waiting another second before taking a deep breath and sending an ice beam at it.

It froze in its advance, but it didn't seem very damaged by the move; easily snapping its thin limbs out of the ice that threatened to immobilize it. Snowflake gaped at it, shocked to see the freeze wear off so fast. She quickly turned tail, starting to run down the mountain again.

Behind us the beast cried out angrily again. I yelped when loud explosions suddenly erupted from behind, blasting hot wind against our backs. The force of their explosions shoved Snowflake forwards and off her balance, and it blew me off her back and over her head. "Aah!" The two of us were flung out of control and collapsed into the snow.

I groaned painfully, my whole body pounding in equal pain as my head. I could barely recognize Snowflake as she stumbled to her feet, facing the advancing monster. She stood before me... prepared to protect me.

I struggled to lift myself from the snow. I wouldn't let her do this alone...

It seemed I wasn't the only one with that sentiment. As if coming out of nowhere, a water gun struck the beast in its faceless, round head, forcing it to keel over into the snow. The Froakie was advancing on us quickly, a set of skis on his feet and his crutches being used as ski poles.

He came to a stop before us, and flashed us a grin. "I'm behind you. Now go! Before it collects itself!"

I couldn't help but grin back at him, and Snowflake nodded in thanks. She turned to me, bent down and lifted me back onto her back. I gripped her as tightly as my frozen paws could manage, and we set off down the mountain again. From behind us we could hear another roar from the beast, but this time when an explosion followed, it was not hot on our tails. I risked turning back to see what was happening.

Above us, Froakie was skiing closer, the lights from the explosions distant. We seemed to have lost the beasts sight for now...

Froakie came up beside us and quickly passed us. "Keep going! We're almost there!" He called over the noise, and I realized he was right. In the distance, I could see many lights dotting the landscape. They gradually grew closer, and the enraged roars from the beasts grew more and more distant. Were we already close enough to be under the towns protection? Hope grew in my chest.

Snowflake ran faster, and it jostled me out of my thoughts. My throat clenched, threatening that if this didn't stop soon, I'd surely be sick. Biting my lip as hard as I could, I tried to calm my breathing. I shut my eyes, and all I could hear was my own laboured breaths.

The cries of the beasts faded into nothingness, the sound of Snowflakes paws crunching hastily through the snow became muffled and my ears began to ring. Nausea began to take over all my senses, and I clenched my teeth painfully. It felt like my body was rejecting me.

I couldn't even feel Snowflake jostling me around anymore, couldn't even feel my own arms wrapped around her neck. Darkness grew around my mind, and before I could even realize what was happening, I had faded away.

-

Sunlight gently kissed at my fur, filling my body with warmth and comfort. For a moment I felt perfectly content. But then the sun poked at my eyes, insisting that I awaken right this very moment. I flinched, rolling onto my side. My side pinched at me painfully, and I flinched again with a soft groan.

'Good morning, world.' I thought, begrudgingly prying open my eyes. I was lying on a bed made of leaves- leaves that I was sure were once soft and comfortable to lie on, but were now crunchy and dry. I huffed, and forced myself into a sitting position, ignoring how the crunch of the leaves made my ears ring distantly.

Despite the occasional ache- I had to admit my head remained in tact for once. It didn't spin at all as I looked around the room.

It had stone masonry walls, made of round grey rocks and dried mud. The floors were made of wood, and almost resembled tatami. 'Huh,' I thought with a tilt of my head. I wondered why certain things in this world almost resembled the way things were in my world.

The single door to my room was gently pried open. I blinked at Snowflake as she peeked in at me through the small opening. Seeing me awake, she smile brightly and opened the door, stepping inside. "Good morning, Moss! I thought I heard you moving," She said happily, clearly relieved to see me awake.

"I was really freaked out when you fainted, you fell right off my back!" She stepped up to me and nuzzled my cheek with her nose. I blinked at her in surprise as she pulled away, smiling even wider. "I'm so glad you're alright. How are you feeling?" she asked with a tilt of her head.

I hesitated for a moment, not quite sure what to say. "I-I'm okay. I'm feeling much-... a lot better. Wh-what happened? After I fainted?"

Snowflake sat down before me with a sigh. "I managed to pick you up and bring you into town, where I met Kubo- that Froakie that helped us. He insisted we come to his place, and I had nowhere else to take you, so here we are." She said with a tired smile, gesturing to the room. I hummed thoughtfully. So this was his place. I supposed it suited him pretty well.

"Moss," Snowflake said gently, redirecting my attention back to her, "you've been asleep for a whole week."

I blinked at her in surprise, "A week!?" She nodded. I looked away, staring down at my paws in awe. "Oh man..." I breathed. How much had I missed?

The Froakie called Kubo suddenly arrived in the open door, holding a cup of tea. Upon seeing me up, he grinned smugly. "Oh, look! Sleeping beauty is finally awake!" He sat beside Snowflake and handed me the tea. I took it cautiously, peering at him skeptically.

"It's herbal tea. My granny used to make it for me whenever I got injured. Healed me right up!" His smug air faded, replaced with a genuinely kind smile.

He was already acting so familiar around us. It was kind of odd, but it also made me feel... safe. Like I had somehow found a place in this world... even though I slept through it all. I smirked at him.

"And how often did you end up getting injured?" I asked, taking a sip from the tea. I had to admit, it was already soothing the painful ache in my bones. It was... refreshing. Kubo laughed, "by that tone, I think you can already tell it was a lot!"

Snowflake smiled, silently watching the exchange like someone would when introducing two mutual friends.

I finished the tea, gulping it down with much less grace than tea usually inspires. I sat the warm empty cup in my lap and peered between the two of them. None of us spoke for a short moment, before Kubo broke the silence. "So... do you know why those beasts were chasing you?"

Snowflake nodded in agreement, turning to me curiously. "You never really got the chance to explain, things happened so fast!"

I hummed, looking down at my feet and clutching the teacup between my paws. The lingering warmth soothed me, but my mind still raced with questions of my own.

"I don't... really know why. All I know is... is that the beasts are the reason I lost my memory, and turned into a Chespin." Kubo blinked in surprise and opened his mouth to ask, but Snowflake shook her head at him.

He settled back down and I bit my lip, struggling to think of how to continue. "I had a dream... where a strange voice told me I was in danger. She apparently knew me... y'know, before I lost my memory. She said she'd meet me here, at this town."

I paused, feeling like that was still an unsatisfying answer. I looked between the two hopefully, "I'm sure if I found her, she'd have all the answers..."

Kubo and Snowflake exchanged a glance. "Well, I think those monsters showing up is proof enough that this mystery pokemon really exists," Snowflake said gently, "do you know what she looks like, so we can find her?"

I shook my head sadly.

Kubo hummed, crossing his legs casually. "Well, from what I'm hearing, we should visit the guild. They know everything that goes on around here, and are always up to helping pokemon in need." Snowflake hummed skeptically, making me tilt my head. What was that about?

Kubo grinned, "plus... they're looking for new recruits! We could join!"

Oh.

I stared at him blankly and Snowflake rolled her eyes. "Stop asking that! Moss is in no condition for such rigorous training." Kubo huffed. "C'mon! It'd be perfect! They'd be great protection for him! And I can't get in all by myself, so you guys have to come!"

Ah, now I understood. Whoever these 'guilds people' were, Kubo seemed to idolize them. Rigorous training sounded like something he'd be interested in, from what I knew about him.

Still I didn't want them making any decisions for me. Before Snowflake could continue to argue with him, I cut in. "What's this guild? What do they do?"

Kubo jumped, excited to explain, but Snowflake spoke up first. "They're a group of exploration teams, training to become independent. They rescue pokemon who are in danger, and due to their status they're practically the leaders of the town. Everyone who lives here looks up to them." She side-eyed Kubo, who crossed his arms and pouted.

"I think it's very important they know about this... beast business." Kubo said with a huff. "They protect the town, and if we stay close to them they'd protect us.' He turned to me hopefully. "What do you think? Are you interested?"

I found his eagerness to be rather cute, and by their description I didn't see why teaming up with the guild would be a bad idea. Sure I wasn't in the best condition to train, but if they helped pokemon like me, surely they wouldn't mistreat me.

I made up my mind, nodding with a smile. "Sure. We can try it out."

Snowflake frowned worriedly, "but... are you sure it's safe for you?"

I nodded at her, "I think it'll be okay. We might as well go check it out. After all, they might not even want an injured pokemon like me in their ranks, so what's the harm?" Snowflake sighed, but smiled hesitantly at me.

"...Okay. If you really want to, we can go. But I'll make sure they treat you right!" She said, determination flashing in her eyes. I couldn't help but smile back at her brightly, a bit taken aback by how earnest she was.

"WOO!" Kubo cheered, jumping to his feet and pumping his arms in the air. "Let's go right now! We don't want anyone stealing our spot!"

He grabbed the cooled teacup from me and placed it hastily on the floor, then grabbed my paws and lifting me to my feet. He excitedly rushed me out of the room, with Snowflake following slowly behind us. She shook her head with an amused sigh, and together we made out way out of the house and into the world.


	4. Chapter 4

While the mountain top had been snowy- as if cast in an eternal winter- I found that the base of the mountain was much more temperate. As Kubo lead me and Snowflake through the town, I took the time to take in my surroundings. Peering up at the buildings and the huge mountain that stood tall above us, I couldn't help but gape in awe.

The town was not built on flat ground, instead it rose with the slope of the mountain. Houses were built into the side of the mountain, and were made of wood and stone. Some were small to accomodate tiny pokemon like me, and some were more human-sized. The foliage took precedence though; it was so lush and green, and as a result the air was very refreshing. It felt so strange, to suddenly go from snow to what almost seemed... tropical.

Overall the place had a cozy, natural vibe. I couldn't help but smile, finding myself much more at peace here. The clean, warm air calmed my headache and for a moment all pain had ceased. I almost forgot what that felt like. I shut my eyes for a moment and let myself bask in the feeling of the sun against my face.

"Oof!" I gasped, my eyes shooting open as I painfully bumped into something. It was Kubo, and he blinked at me for a moment, clearly not finding the bump all that painful. The three of us stopped for a moment and I flushed in embarrassment. Curse my broken body.

Kubo grinned smugly. "Sooo... enjoying the view?" He asked, already knowing the answer. I nodded hesitantly, and we all started walking again. Kubo continued to lead me and Snowflake, but now he had turned around to speak to me, walking backwards. I wondered whether he was just showing off, or whether he actually knew this town well enough to not need to see where he was going. Probably both.

"It's quite beautiful isn't it? I've lived here my whole life, and I wouldn't want it any other way!" Kubo said with a grin, clearly proud of this fact. Snowflake nodded with a polite smile before turning to me.

"I live up on the mountain, so I often hear it's quite hard to get a place here." She said, clearly curious. Snowflake turned to Kubo, "The people are quite... elitist about who's allowed to live here, aren't they?"

Kubo shook his head, an offended look going over his face for a moment. He opened his mouth to argue, but then he thought about it for a second. "I... guess," he shrugged, "but you don't have to put it like that. We just don't want the place to get too big and take over the wildlife." He looked away for a moment, clearly uncomfortable. "If the place gets too big, the whole appeal will be lost..."

Snowflake smiled apologetically. "Sorry, I didn't know... I just hear passing stories, you know how it is."

Kubo nodded, and brightened up again. "It's okay," he began to say, before suddenly coming to a stop. He spun around, and stared up at the building before us. I turned my attention towards it as well, and found it to be the largest building we had come across so far. It was flashy and practically overgrown with flora, easily drawing the eye. I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed it as we approached.

"We're here!" Kubo said, excitement returning to his voice. Kubo took my arm and hastily pulled me towards the entrance. "Woah!" I yelped, but before we could enter the guild, a large pokemon stepped in front of us.

"well well, where do you three think you're going?" She asked, bending down to sneer at us. When her eyes landed on Kubo, she stood up tall, towering over us and rising an eyebrow. "You again?"

Kubo let go of my arm and puffed himself up, trying to appear as strong and manly as possible. "I'm here join the guild, Lycanroc! And this time I have a team, see?" He gestured to me and Snowflake, who had come up to stand beside me; I put my arm around her neck so she could help me stand. "So there's no way you can say no this time!" Kubo announced proudly, putting his hands on his hips, already convinced he'd won.

The Midnight Lycanroc raised her eyebrows at us, wholly unimpressed. "How many times do I gotta tell you? I'm not allowed to let little guys like you into the guild! It's too dangerous, plus, you're little friend there already seems worse for wear," she said, gesturing to me. She then crossed her arms and shifted her weight, looking down her nose at us. "It wouldn't matter if you got in, anyway; the Guildmaster isn't here right now."

Kubo stomped his foot stubbornly, "well, we could wait inside!"

Lycanroc rolled her eyes, but her uppity demeanour quickly faded into exhaustion. She sighed, running a paw through the fur on her head. "Look... We need new recruits because something happened to a bunch of our apprentices two weeks ago. I don't know what happened- the Guildmaster won't talk about it. But I can only assume they're... gone for good."

She squatted down to be more equal with us, frowning seriously. "They weren't little guys- a lot of them were tougher than me. So I'd highly advise you give up on joining us, at least until you get stronger. I don't want to see you guys get hurt."

Kubo was silent, his self-assured attitude fading. I frowned, sad to see him so put-out. This meant so much to him, I could only imagine how much he looked up to the guild. To hear of the guild suffering- and to be turned down time and time again...

I myself was a little taken aback by this news- I had no idea that was why they needed new recruits. The old apprentices... they had died, hadn't they? I hadn't considered that... but perhaps I should've. If these guild members truly saved pokemon in danger, then they'd have to be tough enough to handle it. I definitely wasn't much of a saviour, the way that I was. I'd already needed saving, multiple times. There was no way I was in any condition to try and help anyone else.

"Um... Lycanroc?" Snowflake piped up, drawing our attention. Lycanroc tilted her head questioningly. "We understand it's dangerous. The world out there- it's even more dangerous than you think! But that's why we need to join. We know crucial information; information that the Guildmaster needs to know as soon as possible."

I blinked, realizing the truth of Snowflakes words. I may not be a hero, a saviour, whatever you wanna call it. But I had no choice; not just me, but everyone needed the guild's protection, and they needed to know what was going on. I steeled myself, leaning away from Snowflake so I could stand on my own, ignoring the pain in my feet.

"Shes right, it doesn't matter if it's dangerous. We need to join because... because we need to help others." I said, my voice quiet but firm. "Risky or not, we have to do this. We have to help you. And if-... if something happens to us, it's our responsibility, not yours."

Lycanroc looked at the three of us, seeing the determination and hope in our eyes. She sighed and stood back up again. "I don't know what this 'information' is, but I can't let you-"

"It's alright, Lycanroc." A deep, womanly voice called out from behind us. The three of us jumped and spun around. "Let's hear what they seem so passionate about." The new arrival said, tilting her head elegantly. It was a Serperior, and to my surprise, when I looked around everyone present bowed in respect. Except for me, I just stood there dumbly, blinking in surprise.

She must've been the Guildmaster.

I supposed it was fitting; she did have a royal aura to her. Though she held herself more like a queen than a Guildmaster.

Lycanroc rose from her bow, a worried look on her face. "But Guildmaster, a- are you sure? You know it's too dangerous for pokemon like them, we can't let them risk their lives!"

Serperior slithered up to us, her head held high and her face expressionless. "I know. But I have a feeling..." she peered down at us, her nose held high. She towered above us, making me feel so small under her gaze. "That these three... have good reason to be here. They will not disappoint us." With that, she moved on past us, prompting Lycanroc to open the gate. Although her face was hesitant, she could not disobey the Guildmaster. As Serperior entered, we hesitantly followed after her, unsure whether we had actually been invited.

As we passed by Lycanroc, she did not stop us. She did frown worriedly, betraying her nerves. "I hope we don't regret this..." She mumbled with a sigh, and shut the gate behind us.

I blinked, my mouth agape as we passed through the guild. It was... huge. Or- maybe it just seemed big because I was so small. Either way, the ceiling towered over me, making the spacious entry room feel like a cathedral. I wondered how it would look in my normal size.

We followed the Guildmaster into a hall where a group of pokemon were speaking with each other. As Serperior entered the room, everyone fell silent and stood at attention. All at once, as if well-practiced, they all bowed. "Welcome home, Guildmaster," they all cried in unison. Serperior nodded, satisfied by their welcome, and they all stood back up again.

I paled, a little off-put by how well practiced it seemed. How many times did they need to do that before they got it right?

Stepping out of the crowd, a yellow lizard pokemon- I struggled to put a name to him, but eventually managed to dig up 'Heliolisk'- held out a clipboard and eyed Serperior professionally. "Welcome home, Guildmaster Serperior! I have some important news to report!" He said with a short little bow of his own.

Serperior nodded slowly. "Proceed."

He cleared his throat and peered down at his clipboard. "There was an attack last week on the nearby hospital- the one just up the mountain?" He paused, waiting for input. Serperior said nothing, but her slow nod seemed good enough for him. "Well, fortunately nobody was injured as far as we know- however three inmates seem to have either simply gone missing- or have been kidnapped."

Heliolisk swished his tail, taking a moment for his words to sink in. I spent that moment feeling relieved that Blissey, Happiny and the other pokemon hadn't been hurt in the crossfire.

"The attack seems to have been dealt by creatures that the shell-shocked inmates could only describe as: beasts. They were huge and unlike anything they had ever seen, but after the initial attack they disappeared, and no one knows where they went or why they attacked." He nodded stiffly, indicating that he was finished. Serperior hummed seriously, but was still yet to emote at all.

Snowflake cleared her throat, gaining the eyes of every pokemon in the room. When Heliolisk laid eyes on us, he blinked, and quickly checked his clipboard. "An Alolan Vulpix, a Froakie and a- Chespin!" He gasped, jumping to gape at us. "Are you the three pokemon that disappeared from the hospital last week?"

Snowflake grinned shyly, "uh... yeah..."

Serperior turned to us, moving her body out of the way so everyone could see us properly. "What happened?" She asked stoically, her voice so serious I couldn't help but wonder if she even cared at all.

For a short moment nobody spoke. Feeling all the eyes on me, I rubbed the back of my neck in embarrassment. Kubo clenched his fists confidently, taking this as his opportunity. "Well, we needed to run away, since the beasts were attacking us. So she," he pointed at Snowflake, "needed to carry him," he pointed at me, "down the mountain, since he was injured real bad. I acted as the distraction, so they'd be able to get away! In the end, we all made it down in perfect condition! If we're able to get away from monsters like them, we're prepared for anything!" He crossed his arms proudly.

Snowflake laughed weakly. "Well, I suppose that's one way to put it... but hes not lying. I'd say we're a pretty good team." She smiled genuinely, and I wished I could feel like I participated. All I did was weight Snowflake down...

I cautiously peered back at Serperior, wondering whether she was impressed or not. Yet still, her face was completely unreadable and empty of any emotion. I couldn't hold her eye for long, and my gaze fell to the ground. Why was she so emotionless? I couldn't even begin to guess what she was thinking, she left nothing to grasp onto.

Heliolisk, however, smiled. "Well! I'm glad the three of you are alright." He bent down and shook my hand, smiling gently. I blinked at him. "You're all alive! That's all that matters."

Suddenly, from above my head, Serperior began to speak. "Everyone," she started, turning her body to face the guild members who had listened quietly until now. They all stiffened, standing to attention again. "These three young pokemon are now our newest recruits. Be kind and welcoming." Everyone nodded together. "Yes, Guildmaster!"

"Heliolisk?" She said, turning to him. He bowed, "yes?"

"These three will be of most importance. There is much they have yet to tell us, I can tell." She peered down at me, and while her words made me feel like we were wanted, her empty voice did not. "Take care of them. Teach them everything they need to know in order to succeed."

With that she turned and slithered away, leaving us without so much as a goodbye. She was... peculiar.

"Alright everyone, you're dismissed!" Heliolisk waved his hands at the assembly of apprentices. Whispering immediately broke out as the group dispersed. Heliolisk sighed, his stiff posture falling into something that betrayed his exhaustion. He turned to us. "Alright, come on you three. I'll take you to your room."

We followed him in silence as he brought us down a few floors and lead us to the dormitories. After passing a couple doors, he stopped before a room and opened the door. "Here we are. Do what you like for the rest of the day, but be prepared," he paused as we moved into the room, "we get up very early in the morning, and the Guildmaster tolerates no slackers." He then shut the door, leaving us to our devices.

I peered around. It was larger than our room at the hospital, as it housed three hay beds instead of two, and a table with a few stools. It seemed a bit more professionally made, too. The one window on the far wall looked out over the slope of the town. Once again, we had a great view.

Kubo jumped onto one of the straw beds, crossing his arms behind his head and grinning up at me. "I am SO excited. You have no idea." He smirked, kicking his legs energetically. "This is all I've ever wanted!"

Snowflake sighed tiredly, guiding me to the far bed and sitting on the middle bed herself. "I don't know why I agreed to this, I'm already exhausted and all we did was talk to people. I don't think I'm cut out for this kind of lifestyle."

Kubo crossed his legs confidently. "Aw, come on! You said it yourself, they need us! We're the only ones who know what's going on!"

"But we don't! All we know is that these beasts are out to get Moss!"

"That's totally critical information!"

I sat quietly as they argued, finding myself smiling a little. I could tell they had gotten to know each other a little in the time I was knocked out, so their bickering was not as serious as Snowflake made it out to be. I could tell that somewhere inside her, she was happy to be here too. For her own reasons, of course.

I plopped down on my bed, staring up at the ceiling and tuning their voices out. I wasn't sure I was physically well enough to do whatever it was the guild had in store for us tomorrow. I could only hope they took it easy on us for our first day. If not, well... Snowflake would probably vouch for me. I didn't want to have to sit out, though... I already felt like worthless enough of a teammate as it was.

I sighed and sat back up, rubbing by head as it complained about the sudden movement. I blinked, noticing something white sitting on the table. Curious, I stumbled over to the table and climbed onto one of the stools, standing on it so I could reach the table. The white object was a piece of paper, with a small, crude pencil sitting atop it.

I turned to Snowflake and Kubo, wondering if I should tell them about it.

"We don't even know what this 'mystery pokemon' looks like!"

"Well, news goes around pretty fast regarding the guild! There's only one Chespin in this town, so she's bound to hear about us eventually!"

"We should be out in town searching for her, not wasting our time here!"

"Guild work is anything BUT a waste of time!"

I decided that now wasn't the best time to interrupt them. I didn't want anything to do with their bickering either; my head was much too dizzy to keep up. So I climbed onto the table, lying across it on my belly, and picked the pencil up in my paw.

To my surprise, once I figured out how to hold the thing in my tiny paws, I found it immensely relaxing to draw. I peered over at Snowflake as she sat in her bed, her tails lashing in annoyance. I tried to mimic her form, and when I finished drawing her, I moved onto Kubo. He was much more... animated, so it was tougher to figure out. Still, I found my mind slowing, and all the worrying thoughts in my mind drifted away.

I peered at my finished drawing, holding my head up with my hands. I couldn't help but smile. I hadn't expected myself to grow so fond of my two new friends so quickly. Kubo almost reminded me of my past self, with his jokes and energetic behaviour. Even though I didn't know him well, I knew we'd be fast friends. Snowflake on the other hand already felt like a kind of... partner to me. She hadn't abandoned me yet, no matter how crazy she thought I was, or how much of a burden I had been.

I was lucky... to have friends like them...

before I knew it, my head had slowly slid down off my hands and plopped down onto the table. Completely oblivious, I fell sound asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

I slowly opened my eyes, blinking away the sleep. I waited for my eyes to adjust to the darkness, before frowning in confusion. I saw nothing. Drowsily, I peered around. Still, I saw nothing- I felt nothing. Darkness surrounded me, stretching out into complete and utter nothingness. It was as if I didn't even have a body. It was as if I was blind.

Wait... I peered around, realizing that I had experienced something like this once before. In a dream: when I had met that mysterious voice.

Was she contacting me again?

I waited for a moment, wondering why it was taking her so long to speak this time. "...Hello?" I tentatively asked into the void. My own echo was the only response. Was something wrong? Why wasn't she speaking?

"Moss...?"

"Moss! Can you hear me?"

Her voice finally rung out, echoing loudly around me. Relief filled me, lifting the worry from my shoulders. "Yes! I can!" I replied.

"Oh, thank the stars you're alright! I was so worried!" She breathed, equally relieved. "I couldn't contact you for days!"

I laughed awkwardly. "Yeah... sorry about that. I was kinda... knocked out." I coughed. "But I was safe! A pokemon from the hospital helped me escape the beasts that attacked. He had a place here in town, so he was willing to take me in."

"I'm so glad," she said, and I could hear the smile in her voice. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there to meet you in person." The smile faded. "I was... well, let's just say... getting to town has become very risk for me."

I frowned worriedly. "Are you okay?"

"Yes! Yes, I'm fine!" She said, much too quickly. "I'm safe for now. A very kind pokemon took me in, and I'm hiding with her." She paused hesitantly, and I waited in silence for her to continue. "I told her everything-... everything you might need to know... in the case that we never meet."

That, more than anything else, proved that she was anything but safe.

I didn't know what was going on. I didn't really know who she was or how she knew me; but she knew I was human, and she knew me before all this. She was the only chance I had to remembering who I was. We must've been friends in the past, too. We had been in this together.

My face hardened seriously. "If you can't come to me- I can come to you. Me and my new friends joined a guild, the one here in town. We can come help you- it's what explorers do!" I said, determination filling my heart. I wasn't going to just sit here and do nothing while she was in danger!

She didn't respond for a long moment, and I didn't know if it was because she was moved, or afraid.

"I don't... I don't know how long I can stay here. It's so risky to leave, but I don't want my friend to be in danger because of me." She sighed tiredly. "I'm sick of being so useless! I can't even help you!"

I couldn't help but know the feeling. My friends were endangering themselves to be around me- the beast attack showed clear as day how unequipped we were to handle this. But at the same time, if it weren't for them... I wouldn't be here. I hated the thought of putting them in danger, but... I needed them.

And right now, she needed us.

"Tell me where you are, anyway." I said seriously.

"H-huh?" She stuttered, surprised by my insistence. "O-oh, I... I suppose, I mean if the guild is on your side, then..." She cleared her throat worriedly. "You don't need to come right away, I-I'm fine. But if you ever end up travelling far east from the mountain, you can at least meet the pokemon whos helping me. She'll know it's you."

"I won't need to talk to her," I said encouragingly. "Because you'll be there to talk to me instead."

I heard her laugh shakily, "I hope so."

She took a moment to take a deep breath, calming her nerves slightly. "There's a deep, narrow valley to the east of you. It's huge and always clouded by fog. You can't miss it." She paused hesitantly. "In that valley, there's a lake with an island in the middle; the island is where I'm hiding. The valley is very dangerous- and I can't help but feel like it's my fault- but the place is swarming with beasts. I'd really, REALLY rather you didn't come find me." Her voice shook with anxiety.

A part of me wavered at the idea of facing more beasts. I was in no way prepared for that. But...

"I don't care. We're going to come get you. You're going to be okay," I assured. She breathed a soft, "right..." in response. I could tell she was still very unsure about all this.

"If- if you do come, you won't be able to swim across the lake- its too big. But there are berry bushes along the shoreline, and the berries le- EEAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

-

"Aah!" I yelped, jumping up so violently that I accidentally threw myself from the table I had been sleeping on. I tumbled to the floor loudly with an, "oof!" and sat in a heap on the floor. I gasped, rolling over onto my back and staring at the ceiling, putting a hand over my racing heart. Oh god... oh god...!

What happened? Was I already too late?

I quickly sat up, peering over at my two friends who somehow were not roused by my tumble from the table. They slept calmly, completely unaware of what I had just experienced. The sun peeked through the window, and while the room was still mostly drenched in darkness, the morning was coming quickly. I took a deep breath to still my heart.

How was I gonna save her?

"WAKE UP SLEEPYHEADS!" I practically jumped out of my skin, leaping to my feet and turning to see Lycanroc standing at the door. "Yaah!" Snowflake and Kubo yelped in shock, jumping awake. They blinked bearily at her, both looking a little betrayed.

Lycanroc crossed her arms and leaned on the doorframe with a snarky grin. "I hope you newbies didn't stay up too late! It's time to get up!"

Snowflake sighed tiredly and moved to sit up in her bed, but Kubo just dropped his head back onto the hay. "Guh," he grumbled, obviously grumpy. Lycanroc snickered, and turned to leave. "If you three aren't outta here in five minutes, Heliolisk will have your heads!" She sang with a grin, before slamming the door behind herself.

I turned to look at Snowflake as she slowly stumbled to her feet. She yawned, blinking at me. "Morning, Moss..." She tilted her head, exhaustion forgotten in favour of concern. "Are you... okay? You look kinda... freaked out."

I blinked, realizing that my eyes had been wide open and my quills had been standing on end. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. "I... I think we should probably go." I said weakly.

Snowflake nodded at me. "Okay," she said, before turning to Kubo, who had yet to move. I suspected he was halfway back to sleep already. "Kubo! We're gonna start our guild training! Isn't that exciting?" She urged, pressing a paw on his shoulder and shoving him. He rolled to face away from her and mumbled angrily. Snowflake frowned. "This was your idea, Kubo! Get up!"

Before she could shove him again, he raised a hand into the air and waved her away. "Fine, I'm getting up." He sluggishly moved to his feet and crossed his arms. "We better be getting something to eat," he huffed.

I danced from foot to foot, unsure if I should tell them about my dream now or later. "C'mon!" I urged, and the two compiled, but not without a curious look from Kubo. As we walked out the door and down the hallway, Kubo couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "I thought I'd be the one aching to get out there and train. Are you a morning person?"

I growled impatiently, riled up by the mundane question. We had more important things to worry about! I wanted to tell them as soon as we had the time to properly discuss it, but I didn't think I could handle this. I filtered through my brain, trying to find a way to respond normally. "I guess I just... really wanna help people?" I managed to reply. Kubo smiled at that.

Upon reaching the end of the hallway, we found Heliolisk waiting for us. He hummed. "I have a very important assignment for you three." He said with a wave of his hand. He set off and we followed closely behind him, except Kubo, who skipped up to his side. "Already? Really!? What is it!?" He asked, excitement shimmering in his eyes. Well, that woke him up.

We made our way outside the guild, and Heliolisk turned to us once we reached the crossroads that lead out of town. "It is very simple," he said, putting a map of the area on the ground before us, and handing us a treasure bag. "Someone seems to have eaten all our food last night, the entire stock! So until we can get someone else to properly restock, you will go out and find food for the guild to eat tonight."

Kubos excitement faded, and he pouted. "So... there really is no breakfast." Heliolisk shook his head, and handed Kubo a list of fruits to collect. It was... long. Kubo glared at it. Heliolisk pointed at the map. "You will find everything you need in this dungeon. It should be pretty safe, since it's not too far from town."

Snowflake peered at the map curiously. "Its... outside the protective ward." She frowned up at Heliolisk. "Are you sure it's safe? There are beasts out there!"

Heliolisk shook his head. "You can't be an explorer if you're scared to leave home! Plus, whatever those beasts are, the only ones seen around here were those two at the hospital. I'm sure you won't encounter any." Snowflake didn't seem satisfied, but didn't say anything more.

"Now, I must be getting back to the guild. Good luck! And if you three do well, you'll be able to do much more interesting jobs." With that, he turned and strolled away. Snowflake hummed hesitantly, and Kubo continued to glare at the list of fruits in his hands, but I had no time for grumbling. I grabbed the bag and slung it over my shoulder, then snatched the map off the ground and the list out of Kubos hands, putting them away.

Snowflake and Kubo both blinked at me owlishly, surprised by my assertiveness. "what's up with you?" Kubo asked. My seriousness fumbled, and I gulped nervously under their gazes. Gripping the bag strap tight in my paws, I spoke. "We should get going. We can eat some of the fruit we find too, so..."

Kubo jumped up immediately. "Oh, you're right!" He cheered, suddenly very excited. "What are we waiting around for, then! Let's go!"

-

Kubo skipped along the dungeon ahead of me and Snowflake. We walked together at a more reasonable pace. Before us, Kubo would pause occasionally to pick a berry from a bush and pluck it into his mouth. He hummed happily, clearly ecstatic to be here.

Our bag was almost full with various apples and berries by now. It was getting heavy to carry, but I was feeling a lot less weak now. I wasn't sure if that was because of the endless nervous energy coursing through me, or simply because I was recovering. Either way, my body was ready to fight if that's what I needed to do. I felt so on edge that I could barely hide it, fidgeting and my quills standing up. Snowflake occasionally gazed at me worriedly.

I turned to her when she eyed me again, nervously biting my lip. Maybe now would be a good time...?

"That voice contacted me in my dreams again," I whispered softly. Snowflake gasped. "Is she in town?" She asked, though perhaps because of my antsy behaviour, she didn't seem too hopeful. I shook my head. "She said she's hiding from the beasts. Some pokemon gave her a place to stay and she told me where it was, but I don't think she's there anymore..."

Snowflake frowned. "Why not?"

I clutched the bag tightly, looking down at the ground. "My dream got cut off- she started screaming and then I just... woke up."

Snowflake hummed softly, looking ahead of us instead of at me. "That doesn't sound good... What do you think we should do?"

I shook my head, peering up at Kubo as he continued to lead us through the dungeon, confident and lighthearted. I was happy to leave him out of this for now. He deserved to enjoy his first mission. "I want to go to the place she was hiding. She told me the pokemon who helped her knew everything we needed to know. But..." I turned to Snowflake and she looked back, eyes narrow and serious. "It's really dangerous there. There's beasts everywhere and I don't think we're ready for that..."

Snowflake looked away again, this time staring down at her feet as we walked. I wondered what she was thinking about. Maybe whether it was safe, or whether we should tell the guild? I suddenly realized that I hadn't considered telling them. They'd surely help us, wouldn't they?

We started walking slower and slower, completely lost in thought. Eventually Kubo noticed that we had fallen behind, as he suddenly arrived before us. We jumped and blinked at him, startled. "What are you two doing? We got a mission to do!" He said, stern and a little confused. "Let's go!"

Me and Snowflake shared a short glance. "Right," Snowflake said, and I nodded. Kubo grinned, satisfied. He then turned and ran off again. Snowflake smiled wearily at me. "We'll make plans later. The moment we're done with this." I nodded again, and we started off, running after Kubo.

We turned a corner in the path, and stopped suddenly, finding Kubo standing square in the middle of the path. Peering around him, we found that he had been stopped by a strange, tiny creature. Kubo blinked at it with wide eyes, his face set seriously.

It hovered before us for a moment, swinging its tiny paper-thin legs. It had a head, but didn't have much of a face, so I had no idea of its intentions. I had never seen anything like it, and had no name to give it. I suddenly became aware of Snowflake beside me, as she pushed herself in front of me, standing between me and the odd creature.

"Who are you?" She asked it, the threat clear in her tone.

It turned, alerted by her voice. Upon spotting me, it suddenly jumped to life. "SHREEEE!"

All at once Kubo dodged out of its way as it darted towards me, and Snowflake stopped it with an ice beam right to its face. It tumbled backwards into the bushes, with a strange, wordless cry. "It must be one of those beasts!" Kubo said, already falling into a fighting stance.

Snowflake shifted, standing completely in front of me now. "We have to protect Moss!"

The beast recovered from its short respite, flying out of the bushes and immediately being hit by another ice beam and a water gun. I growled softly to myself. I wanted to help, but I had no idea how... Did I even have any attacks?

Kubo threw bubbles at the beast's face as a makeshift smokescreen, and as it was distracted, Snowflake used extrasensory to try and hold it in place. The beast struggled in confusion for a moment, and I used that moment to figure out what moves I could use.

I peered down at my hands, frowning at the tiny paws. I could bite the beast, I supposed. My teeth were pretty big, so they were probably pretty strong, too. But that was just a regular thing that even humans could do. How else could I fight it? What could a Chespin do?

My quills flared up defensively, almost as if to answer my question. I grinned triumphantly. I could use pin missile!

The beast wriggled its way out of the hold Snowflake had on it and attacked, swinging its blade-like arms at her. From behind Snowflake, I grit my teeth and gathered all my strength. A barrage of pin missiles shot at the beast, sending it off course and into another bush with a shriek of rage. Snowflake gasped and turned to blinked at me. "Moss?" She said, barely louder than a breath.

"Woah, Moss! Nice move!" Kubo said with a surprised grin, jumping up to stand at my side and giving me a thumbs up.

I smiled confidently at him, puffing up my chest. "I'm not going to let you guys have all the fun!" I said, prompting Kubo to slug a friendly punch to my shoulder. "Ow," I groaned with a laugh. Snowflake shook her head and sighed. "Boys," She mumbled, but I could still see her smiling softly.

The beast emerged from the bush, and even though it didn't have much of a face to emote with, I could tell it was irritated. It threw its arms around in frustration and cried out angrily. "SHREEEEE!" It shrieked, rearing back and calling out into the sky. We all cringed and covered out ears at the harsh sound.

"That doesn't sound good..." Kubo mumbled, wincing.

Silence followed after, and in the distance I could hear the beasts screams echo back at us. I blinked, my eyes going wide. Wait a second...

"It's calling more beasts!" I yelped, immediately grabbing Kubo's hand and wrapping my arm around Snowflakes neck, turning to run away. "We have to go!" They stumbled after me.

As it turns out, turning our backs to the enemy wasn't the smartest move. The beast lunged at us- at me in particular. "Agh!" I gasped, flung to the ground and ripped away from my friends. The beast wrapped its thin papery arms around my chest and started flying up into the sky. "SHREEEEE!" It cried, and I was sure it was calling the beasts again.

Where was it going to take me? What did they even want from me? Why was this happening!?

"Moss!" I distantly heard Snowflake call through the haze of my own panic. I peered down, immediately finding my vision swim with dizziness. We had risen barely above the trees. I steeled myself, clenching my hand into a fist. Something inside me surged with power, and I swung my fist around to slug the beast in the face. "EEAHHH!" It yelped in pain, and its grip on me loosened. I slipped out of its grasp and dropped to the forest floor.

"Oof!" I hit the ground with a loud thud. My mind spun dizzily, and I could barely hear Snowflake and Kubo as they swarmed around me, asking if I was okay. Suddenly, power filled me and I pulled myself from the ground, feeling better than I had in ages. "I'm okay," I said, grinning. "In fact... I feel pretty good!"

Snowflake gasped, "that was a power-up punch!"

Kubo nodded with a grin, "yeah, there's no other way you'd be feeling so strong after that fall."

The beast screeched again, angered beyond reason at being thwarted so easily. I jumped, peering up at it.

The beast flew at us, furious and ready to slice through us with its blades.I grinned to myself. Finally, there was something I could do! I could be a real part of the team! I jumped in front of my friends and reared back, before throwing my fist forward and punching the beast square in its chest. It barely even made a sound as it was stopped dead in its tracks and flew back the way it came. It landed heavily on the ground, completely knocked out.

"YES!" I cheered, jumping into the air feeling even more power surge through me. I won! I beat it!

Kubo wrapped an arm around my shoulder with a grin. "That was so cool! I didn't know you had such cool moves!" I smirked at him, and we laughed victoriously. "Take that, beast!" We cheered, both throwing a fist into the air.

Distantly, we heard more beasts call out, their voices ominous and unnerving. Our celebration quieted.

Snowflake coughed awkwardly. "We should probably... be getting home now. I'm sure we have enough food."

"Right," I said, all my bravado fading. Even though I could now say I wasn't useless anymore, I doubted I could go up against something any bigger than a foot tall. We turned, following the path back to town.

-

The sun was sinking down behind the horizon when we finally made it back to the guild. Stepping into the main hall, we spotted Heliolisk waiting for us, with Guildmaster Serperior standing tall behind him. I blinked in surprise; why was the Guildmaster waiting for us too?

Kubo grabbed the bag from around my neck and ran ahead of us, handing it to Heliolisk proudly. "Here's the food!" He sang, and Heliolisk took it. He looked pleased as he peered into the bag, making sure we got everything.

"This is great, good job guys." He said with a smile, shutting the bag and slinging it over his own shoulder. Me and Snowflake stood beside Kubo, tilting our heads at Heliolisk curiously. "I'll take this to the kitchen as soon as possible! I'm sure everyone's very ready for dinner." He bowed to Serperior before taking his leave, disappearing around a corner.

The three of us peered awkwardly up at Serperior. For a while there was silence between us. None of us were sure if we were allowed to talk first when in her presence. She seemed very rule oriented, and would probably get upset if we broke any. So we waited, anxiously shifting beneath her inquisitive gaze.

"Well done," She finally said, making the three of us jump. "Sadly the perpetrator who stole our food hasn't been caught, but I'm sure it will not be a problem for long."

Kubo coughed awkwardly. "Um... I swear it wasn't any of us, if that's what you're-"

"Anyway, you have completed your first mission with flying colours." Serperior said, speaking over Kubo as if he hadn't even said anything. "Now, before you go to dinner, I have taken this time to speak with you all. I would like for you to tell me the 'information' that you deemed so important yesterday."

"Oh," Snowflake breathed in realization. She and Kubo turned to me, making me fumble nervously. I cleared my throat and looked up at Serperior. I nodded. She continued to look down her nose at me, as if whatever I had to say would probably be unimportant. I hesitated and my eyes fell to the ground. I always knew I'd be the one to tell the story, but...

I struggled to find my voice. She was so intimidating. I felt like she'd eat me if I didn't give her an answer worth her time. I wished she'd just give me something to prove she wasn't emotionless. I shook my head, berating myself. There was much more important things to worry. I cleared my throat and forced myself to look up at her.

"Well... I guess to start, my name is Moss. A week ago I woke up in the middle of nowhere with my memory completely wiped. I don't remember much, but I do know that I... I used to be a human, not a Chespin." I paused, expecting some kind of reaction, but Serperior remained as stoic as ever. I fiddled with my hands, and I turned, finding that Kubo was blinking at me in confusion. I almost cracked a smile. Snowflake evidently hadn't told him about the human part.

I continued, "someone contacted me in my dreams, and she told me that she knew me before. The voice told me that for some reason, the beasts that have been showing up lately are after the both of us. She thinks they're the reason I transformed and lost my memory. When the beasts attacked the hospital, they were after me. The voice told me that this town had a protective ward, that could keep me safe from the beasts- so here I am!" I said, doing jazz hands in a pathetic attempt to bring some levity to the situation.

Serperior did not react. I coughed, crossing my arms awkwardly. "Anyway... last night she contacted me again. We had planned to meet here because its safe, but she couldn't make it and had to hide somewhere else. She said that a pokemon had taken her in, but she couldn't stay too long, in fear of being found. She told the pokemon everything she knew about this beast stuff, so if the beasts found her, we could still get the information we need." My arms shifted so I could hug myself. I peered down at my feet and took a deep breath to try and steady my voice.

"She told me where I could find them... but something happened, I don't know... She screamed, I- I think they're in danger." I looked back up at the Guildmaster, with fiery passion in my eyes. She stared back, dispassionate.

"We have to go there. The way is dangerous, and I know we just started training, but she needs us. Even if you don't care about her, you must at least understand that she holds very important information. She could know why these monsters keep showing up. She could help us find a way to make the world a safer place. We have to go as soon as possible, for her sake and the sake of the world." I clenched my hands into fists, frowning seriously. "I don't care how hard it is, or how much I'll need to work. She needs me."

I finished my words and stared up at Serperior urgently. I felt a hand on my shoulder and a paw on my back, making me look around. I found Kubo and Snowflake smiling at me fondly.

"Not just you, Moss. We're a team! Wherever you go, we're going with ya!" Kubo said, holding up a fist confidently.

"I don't even know what to say... but I know that I won't ever leave your side." Snowflake said gently. "It's what friends do, no?" She laughed with a cute tilt of her head.

I felt my throat tighten and I blinked away the wetness in my eyes. It felt so good to know I wasn't alone in this. As long as I had them, I felt I could do anything. We'd save my old friend together, and then she'd never need to be alone again.

The Guildmaster looked down at us quietly as we stared up at her with determination blazing in our eyes. Then, I saw something I had started to think I'd never see... a small smile twitched at her lips.

"I understand." She said, her voice still emotionless, but with a small tint of warmth hidden underneath. "Usually I'd send more experiences members, since you three are so new to this. But your intrepidity and team spirit has changed my mind." She tilted her head down, looking at us directly instead of down her nose. "From now on, I will be expecting much more out of you three, do you understand?"

We nodded, grinning widely with excitement. She nodded, satisfied. "I want to see this kind of spirit every time I look into your eyes. You are dismissed."

"Yes, Guildmaster!" We chanted, bowing in unison.

"After all... I think it is time to eat." She said softly, and when I stood back up again to look at her, her smile and warmth was gone. I wondered why she always hid her emotions behind a mask. Was she even hiding, or was that just how she was? At the very least, I was happy to know she did have emotions after all.

Together, the three of us made our way to the dining room, where we happily ate our fill. Eating with all the other pokemon, it almost felt like a party. I couldn't help but feel like things were finally going my way.


	6. Chapter 6

In the early morning, the guild bustled with life. It felt odd to stand in the main hall and watch all the other apprentices prepare for the journeys ahead. It was odd to know that soon, I'd be going on my own journey. And yet, I couldn't feel even a tinge of excitement. I stood back, a little ways away from Snowflake and Kubo as they discussed the route we'd take and what we needed to pack with Heliolisk.

Distantly, I could hear Heliolisk speaking, but very little information managed to make its way into my troubled mind. "...if you're pace is brisk and uninterrupted, you should get there by nightfall..."

I felt a little detached from this moment. The adventure we had ahead of us pressing down on my heart so heavily I found it hard to breathe. This wasn't going to be a fun little adventure where we gather berries and beat up tiny monsters. We weren't ready for this. Yet the thought of waiting even another day made a pit form in my stomach. My nameless friend needed me- needed us- and yet... how were we supposed to do this on our own?

'Moss? Are you okay?" Snowflakes worried voice cut through my thoughts and I turned to look at her. I forced a smile on my face, but I could tell she didn't buy it. "Yeah I'm fine! What's up?" I said, pushing down my thoughts for now.

Kubo approached me with the treasure bag in his hands, before throwing it over my shoulder. Heliolisk stepped up beside him, holding a few strange items in his hand. He held out a small machine, and I took it, turning it over in my hands. Snowflake and Kubo peered over my shoulders, equally curious.

"That is something we're usually very hesitant about giving to apprentices." Heliolisk said matter-of-factly. "We have very few, and we can't risk losing or breaking them, but the Guildmaster insisted you bring one with you."

"What is it?" I asked, peering up at him.

"It's a smaller version of the ward we use to keep the town safe. Very few pokemon know, but it's actually called a Max Repel. Its got the biggest range we've been able to manufacture." He smirked, clearly proud of himself. "That Repel you're holding only has a radius of about two meters, but it'll keep your team safe from any immediate threats."

"Woah," I breathed, turning it over in my hands again, before carefully slipping it into the treasure bag. Heliolisk then handed me a small, blue glass sphere. "An Orb?" Kubo asked curiously.

"An Escape Orb, to be precise. Use it, and it'll warp you- and anyone touching you- back to the guild." Heliolisk said, crossing his arms seriously.

"Huh," I hummed. "How do you use it?"

"You shatter it on the ground," he replied, with an easy smile. "That's good," I laughed, "that way I can't mess it up!"

As I put it in my bag alongside the Repel, Heliolisk dusted off his hands with satisfaction. "Well, I suppose it's time now. I wish you three luck with your mission, and with saving your friend."

We nodded seriously, before bidding him goodbye and making our way out of the guild. Stepping out of the front gate, I peered at Lycanroc out of the corner of my eye. She frowned at us, her arms crossed and her mood sour. I couldn't blame her for worrying about us, but there was nothing she could do.

We made our way to the outskirts of town, pausing to look over the wide stretch of landscape that stood before us. I cleared my throat nervously, running the route we'd need to take through my head. What if we couldn't do this? What if I couldn't do this?

Snowflake bumped my shoulder with her nose. "Don't worry, Moss. She'll be okay. We'll be able to save her, I know it."

I smiled warmly at her, feeling my unease fade a little. I was then yanked away in the other direction, as Kubo threw an arm around my neck. "Well, what are we waiting for! Let's go alreadyyy!" He announced, pointing confidently out over the horizon, before letting me go and jumping into action.

I passed an uneasy glace at Snowflake, who only smile encouragingly before following after Kubo. I sighed, gripped my bag nervously, and started off as well.

-

The area was unsurprisingly mountainous, though many of the canyons were not nearly as large as the snowy summit I first woke up on. They were large and rocky, but snow didn't endlessly settle upon them. As we traveled, I found myself looking around in awe, absolutely blown away by the world I now inhabited. We walked along the cliff sides, taking care to not get too close to the perilous drop at our side.

Snowflake and Kubo both walked ahead of me, with Kubo in front. I fell behind somewhat, my gloomy mood slightly lifted from my shoulders. I felt like these beautiful sights deserved my full attention, yet urgency forced my attention away.

Initially we had feared the Repel wouldn't keep the beasts from detecting my presence, but our fears had been thankfully incorrect. Nothing came to attack us through the entire day, and even when the sun began to dip behind the mountaintops, I hadn't heard even a single monstrous cry. It made me uneasy. I knew I should feel safe, but instead I only felt anxiety, ready for an ambush or something potentially worse to overtake us.

And yet, nothing came, so when the three of us stopped along the side of a mountain to eat dinner, Snowflake and Kubo seemed pretty confident.

"We should be getting close to the valley. Sooner or later we're gonna start seeing some fog, so look out for that, okay?" Snowflake said, peering at the map as I held it out for her. Kubo jumped from his seated position, apple in hand as he hopped around our little alcove in search for a distant mountain range filled with mist.

"I don't see anything from here," he said with a frown, "I'm going to climb a little higher. Y'know, see if I can spot it."

He started to clamber up the steep slope next to us, before I yelped out to him. "Wait! The Repel only stretches two meters!" I jumped to my feet. "You can't leave, it's dangerous!"

He paused for a moment to roll his eyes at me. "The beasts are only attracted to you, stupid. Me leaving for two seconds will be fine, there's nothing around here anyway!" And before I could protest any further, he hopped away, up and out of sight. I huffed and crossed my arms, plopping back onto the ground.

"He's being too casual about this." I mumbled grumpily, reluctantly reaching for and eating a berry. Snowflake shook her head worriedly. "I know, but it would be good to know if we're going in the right direction..." She sighed, and the two of us ate in silence for a moment.

Distantly, I heard the rustling of grass. Then, a moment later, Kubo appeared over the bend of the slope and slid down to us. He grabbed a berry and stuffed it into his face hastily, before quickly packing our food back up. "Kubo!" Snowflake exclaimed in confusion. "What are you doing?"

"No time!" He said, and in the short pause between that and his next words, my only thoughts were, 'I told you so!' "We got a situation: someone's hurt!" Kubo finished, stuffing the food into my bag, before rushing back over the hill with a gauze roll in hand.

Me and Snowflake blinked at each other. "Huh?" I asked, my smug words ripped from my throat.

The next second we were clambering to our feet, and following Kubo over the slope. We found Kubo kneeling before a pink figure that was collapsed on the ground, her small body hidden behind the cover of a rocky ledge that lead further up the mountain. "Is she okay?" Snowflake asked as the two of us came up behind him, inspecting the fallen pokemon worriedly.

It was a Skitty. She was unconscious, and her body was covered in bruises and dirt. Although I knew it was our job as guild members to help pokemon in need, I found myself totally blanking on what to do to help. I could only watch anxiously as Kubo and Snowflake both tended to the poor things' wounds.

"She should be okay," Snowflake said gently, "but we can't leave her here. I... hope she had someplace safe to go."

Kubo knelt on the ground with a serious look on his face. He nodded, but beyond that he didn't say anything. I shifted my weight between my feet nervously, wondering what he was thinking. Perhaps he was thinking the same thing I was; since a beast must've done this, we were definitely getting closer to our destination.

"Uhhg..." A soft voice groaned, pulling me from my thoughts.

"You're awake! Hey, are you okay?" Snowflake asked, lowering her head to peer at the Skitty as she slowly drifted back to consciousness.

The Skitty squinted her eyes and sniffed Snowflake curiously, a pained pout on her face. She raised her head and looked around at the three of us, her confusion fading into mild panic. "Wh-... where..? Who are you?!"

Something twisted in my heart. Was she... like me? I both yearned for and dreaded such a thing. Yet this idea somehow made me realize what I could do to help.

I bent down to her side and sat her up, putting a solid, steady hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, you're safe now..." I said with a smile, "what happened to you? How did you get hurt like this?"

She spent a short moment to look back at me worriedly, before turning her gaze to the ground. Her expression was steeled as she thought harder about her answer. "...I was with my friend... we went out for a hike. We didn't think... we had no idea..." She swallowed heavily. "We were attacked by some strange monsters, and I managed to find a place to hide, but still I was sure I'd..." She stuttered to a pause, looking back up at me. "If it weren't for you three, I don't know what would've happened to me..."

I felt both relieved and pained to know that she was just a regular Skitty, and not a human like me.

"My friend!" The Skitty suddenly cried, pulling herself away from me so she could stumble to her feet. I stepped away, but still held my hands out to catch her if she collapsed. "Did you see- do you know what happened to a Bounsweet? Is she okay?"

Me, Snowflake and Kubo exchanged nervous glances. "No," Kubo said with a gentle shake of his head, "We have no idea. We just got here; we're explorers, see. We're on a rescue mission right now and I just happened to find you."

The Skitty wilted, biting her lip and tears welling up in her eyes. I could feel her dread radiating from her in waves, and I couldn't help but feel a kinship with her. If only my own friend wasn't in such dire need, I'd have dropped everything to try and help her. I stepped forward again, putting my hand on her shoulder again. She looked up at me, and I smiled sadly.

"It's gonna be okay, alright? You're fine, so I'm sure she will be too." I said, urging her to smile too. She didn't, but her nerves calmed a little. "Thank you... for helping me," she said, nodding at me. I nodded back solemnly.

"Where are you guys going?" She asked, now addressing all of us. Kubo jumped up to me and pulled the map from my bag, showing it to her. "We're trying to find the Misty Valley. Do you know if we're close?"

Fear flashed through her face for a second, but vanished just as fast. "I-it's only a little ways away. I used to live there before-..." She shook her head. "It's practically off-limits since it's so dangerous now. Whoever you need to rescue there... They're a lost cause."

I didn't outwardly react, but from the corner of my eye I saw Snowflake gaze at me worriedly. I didn't even clench my fists, yet my sudden stiff silence told her enough about how I was feeling.

A lost cause? How could she say that! I didn't come all this way to fail! I was suppose to save my friend- she needed us! She needed me!

I clenched my teeth to keep myself from saying anything, as Kubo stepped in to talk instead. "We won't know that until we go! We never back out, no matter what! That's what explorers do!" He threw her a confident thumbs up, but I could tell it was a little less genuine that usual.

Snowflake nodded. "We know it's dangerous to go. But it's important that we make sure our friend is safe. I'm sure... you understand?"

The Skitty looked down again, dejected. "Yeah... I-" She suddenly paused, humming thoughtfully. Her expression steeled a little. She looked up at us, a serious look on her face. "I know my way through the fog. There's no way you can get through that place without a guide. I'll take you wherever you need to get to."

I blinked, surprised at her change of heart. Or... had it truly changed? I hesitated to jump at the opportunity, suspicious of her sudden determination.

Kubo, on the other hand, beamed at her. "That's the way to do it!" He cheered. "You got the bravery of a Braviary!"

Snowflake smiled thankfully, her reaction much more subdued. "Are you sure? I mean- of course we'd do everything in our power to protect you from harm, but... Wouldn't you rather go home, or some other place where you can recover from your injuries?"

The Skitty shook her head. "No. Even though I... I lost my friend..." She hesitated, taking a deep breath. "I want to know... what happened to yours."

Guilt twisted in me. Maybe I was... too hasty with my suspicion. She had just been through something horrible...

"Okay," I said softly, my gaze locked on the ground at my feet, "you can come. If you... really think you're alright."

The Skitty stared at me for a long moment, not saying anything even after I managed to peer back up at her. The three of us waited for her to speak, until she dipped her head down guiltily. "My name's Sakura," she said instead. She looked around at us. "What's yours?"

The three of us hesitated. "I'm Snowflake," Snowflake said with a small bow, "and this is Moss-" "And I'm Kubo!" Kubo interjected, refusing to let her introduce him. "It's nice to meet you, Sakura." He smiled at her, and for the first time, Sakura smiled back.

"You-... you too." She breathed softly. "Now... c'mon. It's best we get this over with before nightfall. Things are much safer during the day."

Sakura turned and marched off, seemingly oblivious to her injuries. Snowflake frowned at me, worried for her. I gripped the strap of my bag tightly in my paws, my face grim. I had an idea of why Sakura wanted to help us. Her life had been ripped from her hands, and now she wanted to find a way to regain control. She wanted to be able to save someone, even if it wasn't the person she truly cared about. She wasn't okay, she was hurting so badly- but she needed this. She needed to take control of something.

And I could relate to that feeling. I loosened my grip on the strap.

"It's okay," I said, "let's go."

-

It only took fifteen minutes more walking before we reached the canyons edge. We suddenly found ourselves looking down the slope of the mountain, right into the Misty Valley. It was as if a dense, white cloud had descended from the sky to rest between the two mountain ranges, drenching the area in such thick fog that I was sure it had to be unnatural. Why was this place so odd? What made it so special?

Distantly from within the fog, I could hear familiar inhuman cries. Those sounds could only mean there were a whole lot of beasts. I gulped.

I suddenly felt very thankful that Sakura had wanted to come with us. I did not want to wade through that without a guide.

"How are we supposed to find the lake in all that fog?" Kubo asked, crossing his arms with a frown. "There's no way we'd be able to see an inch in front of our noses!"

"Good thing I don't need to be able to see!" Sakura said, with faux confidence. I could see her tremble fearfully everytime a monsterous cry rang through the area, but she held firm. She stood as tall as her tiny body would allow. "I know what I'm doing. As long as I'm leading, we'll be going straight for the lake."

I took a deep, shaky breath. 'Hold on, friend,' I thought, staring down into the fog as if I'd be able to see her from here. 'I'm here, so you're gonna be okay now. Just wait a little bit longer.'

Snowflake nudged me with her head, and I blinked down at her. She smiled encouragingly, before turning to Sakura. "Lead on then, Sakura. We'll be right behind you."

Sakura nodded. "I will." With that, she took a cautious step forward, and the four of us started making our descent down into the mist. Sakura took the lead, with Kubo gently grabbing her tail so as to not get lost. I held his other hand, while my other paw rested atop Snowflakes shoulder. None of us was going to get lost.

We passed numerous pine trees and brushes, all eerily barren of pokemon who should be calling this place home. As the fog slowly overtook any hope I had of being able to see my surroundings, all I had left to do was hold on tight to Kubo's hand. I stared at my feet, making sure I kept up and didn't trip on anything. I couldn't help but wonder why anyone would want to live here.

Ahead of us, Sakura gasped. I raised my head, blinking through the fog. I could barely see her pink body as she suddenly came to a stop before us. "We need to hide!" She said, pulling Kubo and the rest of us aside so we could scramble under the cover of a large pine tree. The four of us sidled up next to each other, trying to take up as little space as possible.

Kubo lifted his head and peered around in confusion. "Why do we need to hide? Nobody could see us even if we were in the middle of a field!"

"Shhh!" Sakura hissed, and silence descended upon us. From the distance, I could hear the familiar roaring of a beast. The snapping of branches and rustling of leaves slowly grew louder, and I couldn't help but curl in on myself. Something was coming, and it was impossible for me to see it. Could it see me?

RRROOOAAARRR! The beast cried, stomping ever closer, and I could feel Snowflake jump beside me, her nerves shot. My eyes darted around, straining to see through the heavy mist, when suddenly a large red leg stomped into my view, coming in from the left. I almost yelped, nearly jumping out of my skin.

It was the same beast I had seen back at the hospital, the towering red bug monster. Slowly, it took another step to the side, but from our hiding place under the branches, I couldn't see the direction it was facing. I feared the Repel wouldn't work when so close by. I bit my lip struggling not to cry out for us to run.

RRROOOAAARRR! The large creature bellowed again, before stomping off. Its departure was accentuated by the loud sound of it crunching through the foliage, tearing the plants apart like paper. The four of us continued to hide, waiting as long as it took for the terrifying sounds to fade into nothingness.

When finally Sakura decided we were safe, she tugged on Kubo's hand and pulled us out from under the tree. "I think it's gone now," she whispered. I shakily stood and followed after them, pulling Snowflake along with me; but now my arm was wrapped around her neck, holding her a bit closer. The both of us were shaking.

"Th-that... that beast was looking for me..." I breathed weakly. Snowflake seemed to be the only one who heard me, as she reached up and nuzzled my cheek. "I'm sure it has no idea we're here. The Repel worked, right?" I nodded, but she could still feel my arm shaking.

We continued to walk, hesitantly making our way towards the lake. As we went, I found that the mist was actually thinning out a little. The sun had finally dipped behind the mountainside, casting a huge dark shadow over the area. Pine trees surrounded us for as far as I could see, and every so often, we crossed a clearing where the beasts had torn the trees from their roots, and the area was completely destroyed.

I gulped. I couldn't imagine the fear my friend must've felt to be stuck in a place like this. It was... horrible.

"We're here," Sakura's voice broke through my thoughts, "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

I looked up, moving to stand beside Kubo. We stood at the shoreline of the lake, and through the thin mist I could see its far reaches. "Woah.." Snowflake breathed beside me.

The lake was huge, and behind it I could see the rise of the lush mountainside. The water was illuminated by moonlight, and I looked up to see the moon had started to shine through the dark clouds that had gathered. The mist almost shimmered in the light, making it a bit harder to see. But still, I could see it; there in the middle of the lake, I could see a small island. Upon it, there seemed to be the ruins of an ancient castle.

"There it is," I murmured, without a hint of doubt. "That's where we need to go."

"The island?!" Sakura turned to me in surprise. "Nobody goes there! It's an ancient and sacred place!"

"Oooh!" Kubo cooed. "That makes it an even more interesting place to explore!"

Sakura puffed out her cheeks in annoyance. "Well how are we supposed to get there, then? it's way too far out, there's no way we'd be able to swim!"

"I could!" Kubo huffed and crossed his arms.

"You're not going all by yourself, Kubo. You know that." Snowflake said with a shake of her head. "Moss said he knew a way, right?" She asked, turning to me.

I blinked. Oh, yeah. "I'm not completely sure. She didn't get the chance to fully explain before she got cut off, but... I think there's some berry bushes around here that are supposed to help... somehow?"

Sakura hummed. "You mean... Slip berries?" The rest of us turned to her in silent confusion. She shook her head. "Those are the berries with seeds that can... oh." She breathed in realization. "Slip Seeds!" She cried, a grin suddenly stretching across her face. "Of course!"

Before any of us could say anything she ran off, searching along the shoreline. I blinked at Snowflake and Kubo wordlessly before we started after her. Sakura sniffed at many bushes that lined the shore, too wrapped up in her search to explain anything to us. I chased her nervously, looking around to make sure nothing had spotted us. While losing sight of Sakura was less of a problem with the thinner fog, it also meant beasts could spot us. I bit my lip nervously and tried to calm my nerves.

"Here's some!" Sakura called, turning to us proudly. We approached her and the bush she happily displayed. Snowflake eyed it curiously. "So, how are these berries supposed to help us?" She asked.

Sakura grinned slyly. "Your friend is clever to tell you about these," she said, "only pokemon from these parts know about these berries. They have a special power; eating them makes you able to breathe underwater!" She threw her front paws in the air with a flourish. "Cool, huh?"

"That's amazing!" Snowflake exclaimed, but Kubo didn't seem impressed. "I can breathe underwater anyway," he huffed.

"Well we can't!" Snowflake said, turning to him with a huff. "I've never even been underwater before!"

Kubo gasped, turning to her and me with an excited grin. "Wait... that means I can show you guys around!"

"I've actually done it before," Sakura cut in. "Awww," Kubo drawled in disappointment.

I hummed, ignoring their conversation. I stepped forward, grabbing a berry and turning it over in my hands. I peered back up, looking over the water at the island in the middle. The castle was shrouded in fog, making it difficult to make out. I couldn't help but feel a shiver run up my spine. As my anticipation of finally meeting my friend rose, I couldn't help but feel like something was wrong.

A splash of water hit me in the face, awakening me from my worries. "Huh?" I gasped, turning around. Kubo cheekily grinned up from the water at me. "Come on guys! Eat up! We got a mysterious friend to save!" He announced proudly, before sinking his head beneath the waves.

I hesitated, but brought the berry up and ate it, picking two more from the bush and handing them to Sakura and Snowflake. Slowly I lowered myself into the water, hesitant about getting the bag wet. That is, until something grabbed my feet out from under me and yanked me into the water. I screeched in fear, thinking it was a Beast, and paddled my arms pathetically.

"Moss!" Snowflake yelped, jumping into the water to try and save me.

Kubo stuck his head out of the water, grinning up at me. "Sorry," he mumbled, clearly not sorry. Snowflake and I glared at him.

"You jerk," I huffed, playfully hitting him on the shoulder. "Ouch!" He yelped, falling back into the water dramatically. "How could you do this to your dear friend!?" He wailed.

RRROOOAAARRR! A voice called, silencing us immediately. Sakura, who had been watching us from the shore with a sad smile on her face, was now standing tall and alert, her tail between her legs. With stiff, nervous steps, she moved into the shallow water beside us. "L-let's go, before..." she trailed off.

We all nodded.

Submerging my head beneath the surface was odd, as I held my breath nervously. I watched as Sakura opened her mouth and breathed in the water, the air in her lungs floating away. She sunk down into the water and was able to swim freely alongside Kubo. Snowflake cautiously did the same, and I watched as she sank. I continued to float at the surface, a little afraid of breathing in water. Kubo blinked up at me. "C'mon dude! We got places to be!" He said, his voice a bit muffled.

I experimentally opened my mouth. As the water flooded in and the air bubbled out, I found that I could breathe perfectly fine. It felt weird and wrong, but it was breathable. It was... okay. Slowly, I sunk down to their level.

Snowflake blinked her wide blue eyes, looking around the underwater landscape. "It's... really dark. And I can tell it's only gonna get darker."

Sakura waved a paw dismissively. "Don't worry, I got it covered!" She chirped. "How do you think I was able to see through the fog? I wish I could say it was my impeccable memory, but there's only one thing that could make pokemon bother with living in a place like Misty Valley; foresight!"

Snowflake and Kubo both answered with a chorus of "ooh!" but I had no idea how being 'good at planning' could help you see.

Sakura turned and began swimming, not explaining any further. I continued to ponder her words for a moment, before overhearing Kubo saying, "I had no idea that move had so many uses!"

Oh. Right, the move 'Foresight.' I supposed it must let you know where unseen objects are around you.

The underwater world was not unlike the regular one. Seaweed stretched tall above us, reaching up from the dark depths to the surface like long spindly trees. The lake bed was rocky, and as it slowly descended into the darkness, it felt like looking down into a mountainous canyon.

Water pokemon seemed to actually still live here, unlike the surface where everyone had evacuated. Many Lumineon, Clamperl and Magikarp eyed us curiously as we passed by, but I could tell they weren't especially surprised. I wondered if they knew what was going on right above their heads.

The water grew darker and darker, even though we didn't swim all that much deeper. I anxiously realized that night had finally descended over us, as the light from the surface was gone.

The darkness didn't seem to bother Kubo though, as even though me Sakura and Snowflake all swam at pretty much the same pace, he zoomed around us with surprising grace. "Isn't this cool guys?" He cheered. "We're all swimming together! This is so surreal."

He swam up to Snowflakes side. "How's your first time being completely underwater?" He asked excitedly.

I couldn't see Snowflake's expression from my place behind her, but her tone said it all. "It's... interesting," she said slowly.

"We should totally bring some Slip Seeds back to the guild with us," Kubo continued, clearly not noticing Snowflakes obvious unease. "We could explore underwater dungeons! That'd be so sick!"

He continued to ramble on about the benefits of exploring underwater, but when I swam up beside Snowflake, She turned to me and mumbled in my ear. "I think being here is making me sick," she quipped with an unhappy grin.

I chuckled lightly. "It'll be okay. At least Kubo's enjoying himself."

"Yes... at least there's that," she sighed weakly, stifling a nauseous expression, "but I'm definitely never doing this again."

Slowly the lakebed began rising back up to meet us. "We're getting close, guys!" Sakura called, looking over her shoulder at us.

Our journey was uninterrupted, and as we grew closer and closer to the island, I couldn't help but feel more and more uneasy. It felt as if nothing was waiting for us. I shook my head, determination flashing in my eyes. 'No,' I thought, 'I'm not going to get discouraged now. It'll be fine.'

The ground came up to meet us, and when our feet touched the ground, we began climbing up to the surface. Snowflake coughed out the water hastily, and Sakura shook the water from her fur, spraying it everywhere. Upon breaking the surface, I peered up at the castle that stood before us... and blinked in shock, my eyes going wide.

The castle was more like an old ruin than I had expected. The grey stone walls were caved in and crumbling, and many of the turrets had fallen down completely, smashing through the tall stone wall. Piles of rubble stood tall above my head, and the aged stone was cracked slightly with vines and moss. Needless to say, it was in really bad shape.

"No way..." Sakura said, her voice barely a breath. "This... the castle wasn't like this the last time I saw it. It was old but… all this destruction- its new! It's not because of time." She ambled around, gaping at the crumbled rock with horror. "What kind of pokemon- what kind of monster could do this kind of damage?"

Kubo slunk out of the water behind me, crossing his arms. He hummed and moved forwards into the castle, curiously looking around and leaving the three of us behind as we gaped in awe at the mangled building. Snowflake watched him go with a nervous look in her eye. "Moss... I... I knew those beasts were strong but I had no idea they were capable of this." She breathed, not prying her eyes away from the scene.

I nodded without looking at her, my nerves completely shot. This... didn't bode well.

"Hey guys! I found someone knocked out! It could be her!" Kubo shouted, running out of the destroyed castle and waving us over. Me and Snowflake shared a quick look before we rushed after him, Sakura trailing behind.

It was hard to see through the darkness, but as we clambered over piles of rubble, Kubo managed to lead us into a large room. The ceiling was huge like a cathedral; a human one. It almost resembled a church, if not for the mostly caved-in ceiling and walls. Stained glass windows reflected the moonlight down upon us, tainting it pink and blue. Lying in the middle of the room, amongst the rubble, lay an unconscious pokemon.

I stopped in my tracks upon seeing her, frozen still at the sight. My vision tunneled in on her, so much so that I didn't even notice Snowflake rush by me so she could feel the pokemons pulse. As if we were still underwater, her voice was muffled to me when she spoke. "She's alive," Snowflake sighed in relief, "but we'll need to bring her home to the guild as soon as possible. Who knows how long she's been here like this..."

She was small; smaller than me. She had two long tails that were thin and fragile, with red orbs on the ends that shimmered through the dirt and dust that covered her entire body. She had a similar red gem on her head, but besides that I couldn't see her face, due to her arms wrapping around it protectively. She was covered in cuts and bruises, and had I not been so stricken I would've felt the urge to look away empathetically.

My friend... was this my friend? I managed to take one step forwards before I suddenly snapped out of it. "Wait," I called, making Snowflake and Kubo turn to me, both pausing in their attempt to lift the pokemon onto Snowflakes back.

"My friend... she said someone had been protecting her- someone was helping her hide! There... there should be two pokemon here!" I announced, my fists clenched nervously.

Snowflake and Kubo shared a look of realization. A paw suddenly tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to find Sakura smiling weakly up at me. "I'll help you look," she said. I hesitantly nodded, and she immediately ran off. Snowflake and Kubo got back to taking care of the pokemon while I turned and ran, climbing over rubble to get out of the room.

I searched as much of the castle that I could manage. I peeked into rooms whose doors were barred by rocks, but I couldn't enter to search them thoroughly. I grit my teeth, digging through small piles of rocks in fear that she had been buried. By the time I had made my way back into the large cathedral room where Snowflake and Kubo were anxiously waiting, my hands were shaking from use.

I could hear Sakura digging around nearby, and I gripped my bag strap to steady my hands. I couldn't help but think of when that small papery beast had lifted me up into the sky, during our first mission. It was trying to take me somewhere- to abduct me.

A part of me knew... I knew that the injured pokemon was not the one we were looking for. The one I was looking for. And I knew that no matter how much i looked, I wasn't going to find her. Sakura wasn't going to find her. My friend was gone. She had been taken away, and I had been too late to help her.

I had... failed.

I heard Sakura step up behind me. I could tell from her silence that she had come up empty-handed.

"She's not here." I croaked, trying to hold back the tears that stung at the back of my eyes. "The beasts were after her. There's no way they would've left her behind..."

Snowflake had the injured pokemon balanced on her back as she approached me. Kubo stood at her side to make sure she didn't fall off. Snowflake frowned sadly at me. "Are you sure..? There's a chance-"

"NO!" I shouted, shutting my eyes and hugging my fists to my chest. Everyone was startled into silence. I forced myself to relax, opening my eyes, but I couldn't bring myself to look up from the ground. "Sh-she's gone... We failed."

"I knew it."

I blinked, eyes wide as I turned to Sakura in surprise. She was frowning at the ground coldly, disappointed but not surprised. "Those beasts killed my friend. I knew there was no way your friend would survive either." She shook her head, her voice harsh and cold. "It was foolish to come here."

I blinked again, suddenly the tears I had been trying to hold back returned with a vengeance, stinging angrily at my eyes as I glared at her. "What do YOU know!?" I cried, ignoring the angry tears that managed to spill over. "You don't know ANYTHING!"

Snowflake cut in worriedly, "Moss-"

"No!" I shouted over her, stomping my foot. "I- I won't let this happen! I can still fix this!" I ruffled through my bag, struggling to see through my tears.

I managed to find the Escape Orb, and I stepped up to Kubo, pushing it into his hands. "Here," I said, sniffing and wiping my eyes. "You guys go home with Sakura and the injured pokemon. I'll stay here."

"What!?" Kubo yelped, rearing his head back. "Why would you want to do that!?"

I frowned stubbornly at him. "Remember when that beast tried to abduct me? I'm sure that's what happened to my friend. All I have to do is turn off the Repel, let them take me to her, and then turn the Repel back on so we can escape!" I forced a smile, trying fruitlessly to remain hopeful about my friends fate. "I can still save her!"

"Moss, no!" Snowflake said, shaking her head vehemently. "You don't know if they'll take you to the same place- or if they even abducted her in the first place!"

"Yeah, and you have no idea where they'd take you in the first place! What if you can't get back? You don't even know if they want you alive! It's way too dangerous!" Kubo cut in, pushing the Escape Orb back into my paws.

"B-but..." I deflated sadly, despair flooding over me. "How am I... supposed to save her? I promised her that I'd... that she'd... be okay..."

Snowflake and Kubo shared a look, before they both reached forwards and wrapped me up in a hug. I cried softly, unable to keep myself from thinking about how hopeless it was. How could I let this happen? How could I screw this up so badly? How was I supposed to save her now? Was she even still alive?

I promised her that she'd be safe... and I failed her...

"Why is Moss so important to the beasts, anyway?" Sakura asked, her voice coming from somewhere behind me. Kubo pulled away from the hug so he could answer her. I leaned closer to Snowflake as a result.

"We don't know." Kubo said. "The friend we were trying to help... well, she would've had the answers." He scratched at the back of his head awkwardly.

Snowflake lifted her head to speak as well. "We think it has something to do with getting rid of the beasts," she said softly, "or at least, figuring out why they're invading."

Sakura was silent for a moment, prompting me to curiously turn around. I wiped my eyes and blinked over at her. Her brows were furrowed curiously, and her mouth hung open slightly as she gazed at the floor. "... So you... you're trying to stop them." She said, lifting her gaze up to me. I couldn't respond, but whatever it was she saw in my eyes seemed to be all the confirmation she needed.

Sakura nodded to herself. "I don't want anyone to go through what I did. I-... I want to stop them too." I could see a fiery passion suddenly alight in her expression. "Please, let me join you! I want to help save pokemon too!"

Snowflake and Kubo hesitated to accept her, turning to me. I was so drained, however, I couldn't bring myself to care one way or the other. I sighed, my shoulders slouching. "Yeah... fine, sure." I rubbed my arms defeatedly. "Let's just go home. We need to take care of the one pokemon we actually did manage to save."

Snowflake frowned at me sadly, opening her mouth as if to protest. She seemed to think better of it though, and shut it again. I ruffled through my bag and pulled the Escape Orb back out, and then held my free arm out for Kubo to grab. He did, though hesitantly, his expression surprisingly hard for me to read. He seemed almost angry- not at me, but at our situation. I supposed I wasn't the only one that had been overly hopeful about how this would turn out.

Sakura approached us slowly, not feeling entirely welcome by my flippant words. She tilted her head and shifted from foot to foot. Her antsiness made me look up, blinking at her tiredly. Sakura attempted a weak smile. "You saved me too, you know," she said softly.

I blinked, my sadness forgotten for a moment.

"I'm sure I would've died out there if it weren't for you guys." Sakura said, looking away and flushing in embarrassment. "...And I wanted to say that I'm... sorry. For being so blunt and pessimistic about your friend. I... I'm sure she's actually okay, I was just..."

I smiled, and tilted my head. "It's okay. You've been through a lot today."

Sakura smiled back, relieved. "Yeah... I guess I'm not the only one."

I chuckled without humour. I couldn't help but remember how much Sakura had reminded me of myself at first. We had been through similar things- but it was our differences that put me off. Now though, I realized that she was just... dealing with her trauma differently than me. And that was okay. I kind of appreciated it.

I gestured with my head for Sakura to come closer. She stepped up to the three of us, a bit more confident about coming along now.

Wordlessly, Snowflake sidled up beside me and Kubo placed a hand on Sakura's back. Now that we were all together, we could use the Escape Orb to get out of here. Before I broke the orb against the ground, I took one last look at the destroyed castle around us.

The despair and hopelessness that had overtaken me mere minutes ago had been suddenly replaced with a new fire.

I wasn't going to let something like this happen ever again.

With that thought in mind, I threw down the orb. It shattered in a brilliant light, and in the next moment the five of us were warped home, leaving the empty, broken ruins behind.


	7. Chapter 7

When the blinding blue light faded, we suddenly found ourselves back in our guild bedroom. I peered around blearily for a moment, pulling away from Kubo and Snowflake to rub my eyes.

"Where...?" Sakura mused softly, tilting her head curiously.

"This is our room at the guild," Kubo said, pointing her attention to the few features of the room to show her around. I watched him speak to her for a moment, before realizing that Snowflake was no longer standing at my side. I spun around, looking for her worriedly.

Ignoring the rest of us, Snowflake had carried the fallen pokemon we had rescued over to her bed, and slowly let her down onto it. I watched from afar, hesitating to step closer, as she arranged the pokemon into a more comfortable position. Snowflake sighed sadly, deeply worried about the pokemon's well-being. Then she blinked, noticing me as I watched nervously from across the room. She smiled at me and gestured for me to come closer.

I stepped up to them and peered down at the fallen pokemon a little closer. Her pink face was bruised black and blue, and it was twisted up in unconscious pain. I could sympathise with that. So many pokemon were suffering because of these beasts. She didn't deserve this... she seemed so small and fragile...

"I always heard stories," Sakura's voice was suddenly at my side, making me jump out of my thoughts. I turned to her and Kubo, who had joined us in watching the strange pokemon sleep. "Everyone said that an ancient, powerful pokemon lived in that castle on the lake. They said it was our guardian, and that we should never disturb it. But I never imagined that it'd be like... her." Sakura sighed softly, looking away in thought.

She peered back up at us, hesitantly. "Do you think the guild will be able to help her?"

Snowflake nodded, a soft gentleness in her voice. "I'm sure she'll be fine..."

Kubo puffed out his chest seriously. "If she's gonna get the guild's help, they gotta know we're here! C'mon guys, let's go!" We all nodded seriously at that and turned to leave. As I moved to follow Kubo out the door, I noticed that Snowflake wasn't coming with us. I turned back, spotting her still standing in the same place, watching us leave with hesitance in her eyes. The Vulpix lifted a paw to follow us, but bit her lip and stared down at the fallen pokemon. I couldn't help but grin knowingly.

She wanted to protect her.

"It's okay, Snowflake." I said, making her jump to attention. "Huh?"

"It's okay," I repeated, "you can stay here and look after her. We'll get help real quick, okay?" She nodded, relieved, and with that I quickly followed Kubo and Sakura out the door.

The guild was quiet in the late evening, but bedtime was not quite upon us yet. Most of the other apprentices were probably unwinding from their long, tiring adventures. There was no doubt in my mind that we had missed supper. It was no bother to me, though. With or without food, I'd be happy to lie down on my nice comfy bed after this whirlwind of a day.

"Hey, Heliolisk!" Kubo called, spotting the lizard pokemon patrolling the halls. He turned to us, alarmed for a moment.

"Huh? Oh! You two!" He gasped as Kubo, Sakura and I ran up to him.

He blinked at Sakura. "Huh? Who are...?"

"We'll have time for that later!" Kubo announced. "We found an injured pokemon on our mission and we need the nurse to take care of her, stat!" Kubo turned and pointed down the hall to our room.

"Oh goodness!" Heliolisk said worriedly, "I'll need to go wake her! Come, come now!" He started off down a different hallway towards the nurses office, with Kubo quickly at his heels. Sakura and I moved to follow as well, but a voice stopped us in our tracks.

"You two." I flinched. The voice was sharp and it cut through the air powerfully even though it was barely louder than a murmur.

It was the Guildmaster. I slacked my stance and, curious as to why I stopped, Sakura followed suit.

We turned to face her as Serperior slithered up to us, looking down her nose as usual. I gripped my bag and bowed, before standing up tall, trying to look strong. I met her gaze confidently, but the confidence quickly faltered, and I dropped my eyes back to the ground in shame. Something about her face made me feel like she knew... she could tell I had failed my mission.

Sakura peered up at her with an innocent tilt of her head. I could hardly believe the ease with which she met her eyes. "What do you want with us? We have someone we gotta to help right now!" She said, her voice filled with determination.

Serperior shook her head. "No, that won't be necessary. Your friend will be getting all the help they need."

Sakura seemed a little confused, but she said nothing. I stared at the ground pathetically, my shoulders slumped. Serperior was silent for a long moment, and I wondered if she wanted me to meet her eyes again. But I couldn't do it. I couldn't let her see how badly we had messed this us. How badly I had messed this up. I shut my eyes defeatedly, letting my head slump down onto my chest.

"Do not beat yourself up so much." The Guildmaster said, her voice authoritative. I blinked my eyes open, lifting my head. I peered up through my eyelashes at her. "You did everything you could've done. In time, you will find your friend. But for now... you must rest."

I blinked, surprised. Her tone sounded almost like she was giving me orders, but her words were clearly supposed to be comforting. "After all, it was not a total failure. You have saved a life, and..." She paused, turning her attention back to Sakura, who had been quietly watching her in confusion. "you have made a new friend."

Sakura flinched under the sudden acknowledgement. "Um..." She stuttered.

"Who could this new friend be?" Serperior mused to herself, not fully speaking to either of us.

Sakura choked on her words for a moment. I remembered my first time meeting Serperior, and was glad I wasn't the one going through that right now. "U-uh... my name is Sakura. My friend and I-... um, I was attacked by beasts near the Misty Valley, and I would've died if Moss and his team hadn't found me." She turned to me for a moment, and I gave her a small smile of encouragement. She grinned back weakly.

"I helped them through the valley and, well... here I am." She shrugged hopelessly, giving a nervous laugh.

The Guildmaster nodded with a soft hum. She turned back to me again, her expression blank, yet somewhat gentle. "It seems you've saved not one, but two lives today. A definitive success, even if you could not accomplish your goal." She nodded to herself thoughtfully. "I hope you continue to find such success in your future missions."

I gaped at her. She... really thought I had found success? Even though the only person I truly intended to save was lost? Even though I failed my real mission?

Not waiting for a response, Serperior moved as if to leave, but I stuttered out in protest. "W-wait!" She froze, eyeing me blankly. I fumbled my hands, my eyes dropping back to the floor. "Excuse me, Guildmaster. I just... have one question." Serperior did not move, almost as if she didn't hear me. But I could tell somehow that she was simply waiting for me to continue. I paused, but forced myself to speak.

"Sakura wants to help us with finding a way to stop the beasts. She wants to help pokemon who've been hurt like she was." I turned to her, and Sakura smiled brightly. I looked up at Serperior, a bit braver now. "Can she join our team? Without her help, we wouldn't have been able to save anyone."

Sakura stood up tall beside me, feigning confidence again. "I really want to help them," she said, "I promise I'll be useful! I'll do all the training needed, I'll work as hard as you want, I don't care what it is! I want to get stronger and help save others!"

She stood proudly with a confident grin on her face, waiting for the Guildmaster's answer. When the answer failed to come, and silence slowly descended over us, Her ears and tail drooped, and her shouldered hunched anxiously. Her gaze fell to the ground. "I- I swear I know how to fight. My father was a fighting-type pokemon- a Lucario! He trained me since I was little, s-so I'm ready for whatever it is I gotta do as an apprentice!"

Serperior remained silent for another moment, making me fidget nervously. Nobody knew what went on in the Guildmasters mind. Was she going to turn Sakura down? I hadn't even considered...

"If you are unable to meet my expectations, you will have to leave." Her stoic voice finally said, and the two of us jumped and stared up at her in surprise. Wordlessly, Sakura gave a shaky nod.

"You will need to stay in the room across the hall to your teammates. Make yourself at home." With that, she turned to make her leave, but paused for a second. She looked back, her eyes stoney and serious. "Oh, and Moss... That injured pokemon you brought here. Take care of her, because if something happens to her, it will be your responsibility. Understand?"

I stumbled over my words, gasping wordlessly. "Ah-! I- um-" A part of me was relieved that I'd be able to help take care of her. She had been told a lot about my friend and about the beasts. I had a lot to ask her once she woke up, and I didn't want to be kept away from that. But on the other hand... I just couldn't understand Serperior's motives. "Er, of course, Guildmaster!" I finally managed, taking a swift, anxious bow.

Satisfied, Serperior nodded to me before turning and leaving towards the front gates of the guild. Sakura and I watched her go in silence for a moment. We peered at each other quietly. Once she was out of sight, I let out a deep breath of air and slumped over. I didn't realize how tense I had gotten. "So! ...That's our Guildmaster." I said with a shaky laugh.

Sakura tilted her head in confusion. "I'm... not sure if she was nice or not."

"Welcome to the club," I sighed grinning in amusement. Sakura giggled softly. "I guess I really am in the club now, huh?" She smiled at me, genuinely relieved. "For a second there I didn't think she'd say yes!" I hugged my arms and smiled back. I could still feel a weight pressing into my chest, but a small weight was lifted from my shoulders. Hope flickered in my heart.

"We should go check on the others... and tell them the good news." I said gently.

"Yeah," Sakura breathed, "let's go!"

We made our way back down the hallway to the nurse's room. The guild was even quieter now, and I couldn't help but wonder if it was bedtime yet. I didn't want to be tired in the morning...

We turned a corner, and found a pokemon I hadn't seen before walkin down the hallway towards us. He blinked at us, suddenly alert and serious. "Hey! What are the both of you doing out here?" He asked with a deep rumbling voice before stepping up to us. I recognized him as a Haxorus, and he stood tall above the both of us, his large ax-like tusks almost brushing the ceiling above his head. He held a torch in his left hand to ward away the growing darkness.

"We're looking for the nurse," Sakura said, her voice betraying her unease. She pointed down the hall with her paw, "we just brought someone home that was really hurt!"

Haxorus hummed, scratching his chin. "Were you with Heliolisk and that Froakie?" He asked. Sakura and I nodded. "I see..." he mused.

"Well, I suppose I can let you go. But I believe Heliolisk and your friend have already alerted her."

"Oh!" I chirped. "So we've got to go back to our room, then! Thank you, sir." I smiled up at him, but he held out his had to stop me.

"One more thing," he grumbled. I paused, blinking in confusion. He sighed. "You shouldn't be out this late. Things aren't usually like this around here, but ever since our rations got stolen a few days ago, We've been upping the security." He crouched down to eye us seriously. "I've been taken off my team for now, to be the night guard. No apprentice is allowed to leave their room after dark, or else I bring them to the Guildmaster." He looked between us, his glare stony and chilling. "I don't want to see the two of you again, got it?"

Sakura nodded stiffy from beside me. "Y-yep! We hear you loud and clear!" I nodded in agreement, but couldn't force my voice from my throat. This guy... well, I had to give the Guildmaster kudos for choosing the perfect guy to play night guard.

He stepped to the side and turned around, patrolling back down the hallway from which he came. Sakura and I likewise turned tail and ran back down the hallway, finding our way back to the barracks. We didn't speak a word to each other, preferring to just make it back as quickly as possible.

We arrived at our room in a matter of minutes. I opened the door and followed Sakura inside, finding that the room was much more crowded than when we left.

Kubo sat on a stool next to the table, and was the closest to the door. He waved at me and Sakura as we entered the room, but my attention was drawn elsewhere. An unfamiliar pokemon was leaning over Snowflakes bed, bandaging the unconscious pokemon that laid in it. She must've been the nurse, and after my first instinct was to think, 'is that Blissey?' I realized that she was a Chansey. I hummed to myself. Maybe they were related?

The nurse spoke softly with Heliolisk, who stood closeby. He had his arms crossed seriously as he watched her work. Snowflake hovered nervously around the three of them, not wanting to get in the way but dearly wanting to see what was going on.

"Where'd you guys disappear to?" Kubo asked, drawing my attention back to him. Sakura climbed onto another stool to use as a stepping stone up onto the table. She sat on it and collapsed into a heap with an exhausted sigh. Kubo chuckled lightly as I sat on the stool next to him.

"That bad, huh?" He said with a grin.

I smiled and stretched my arms above my head with a sigh. "It was stressful, but everything turned out okay, I think. The Guildmaster says Sakura is allowed on the team!"

"Score!" Kubo cheered, reaching a hand up onto the table to high-five Sakura. She took one look at him before sighing tiredly and rolling over to face away from him. He laughed, "yeah, the Guildmaster really leaves an impression on ya, huh?"

"No kidding," I said, returning my gaze to the nurse as she worked. "For a second there, I thought she'd turn Sakura down."

"Hmmm," Kubo hummed, nodding seriously. "While you were busy getting Sakura recruited, I needed to wake nurse Chansey. And I also had to help carry her equipment. Do you have any idea how heavy that stuff is?"

I laughed softly. "Sorry I couldn't be there to help."

He waved me off, "It's fine. You should've seen Snowflake when we came in. She was so worried!"

I peered over to Snowflake, but she seemed not to hear us. She continued to pace around the nurse and Heliolisk, biting her lip and her ears twitching frantically. "She doesn't look much better now," I noted.

Kubo nodded. "She'll do this all night if we don't stop her." He hummed, scratching his chin with his hand. "When you were knocked out in my house, she kept me up at night with all her worrying. Made me anxious."

I blinked in surprise. "She was like this when I was knocked out?"

He nodded. "Oh, yeah. Man you should've seen her, haha!" He waved to Snowflake, before cupping his mouth and calling to her. "Hey, Snowflake! C'mere!"

She jumped in surprise with a small squeak of surprise. Snowflake turned to us, her brows scrunched up in annoyance. She did not look impressed. Kubo was unfazed, waving her over with gusto. "C'mon!"

Snowflake groaned and rolled her eyes, before dragging herself over to us. She stood just in front of us, her nose turned up and her glare set on the Froakie. "What is it, Kubo?" She huffed.

"You're not gonna pace around all night again, are you?" He asked, a knowing grin slipping onto his face. Snowflake flushed, her annoyance being replaced with embarrassment. Her eyes flickered self-consciously over to me. "W-well I'm just concerned about Mesprit! Is that so bad?" She bit back, her face red.

I perked up. "Mesprit?"

I peered over at the bed, but I couldn't see the fallen pokemon from behind Chansey's back. "Is that her name?" I asked.

Snowflake nodded. "I overheard Heliolisk saying that she must be one of the lake guardians- he called her Mesprit."

"Ooh..." I breathed, leaning back in my stool to try and see around Chansey. Still no luck. "How's she doing, anyway?" I asked, looking back to Snowflake.

She sat on the ground with a tired sigh. "Oh, I hope she'll be okay... Chansey says her wounds aren't to be taken lightly." She turned around to peer over at them as well, wringing her lip in her teeth again.

Kubo's mood seemed to sober up after hearing that. "Man... this sucks." He said crossing his arms, his face stony. "I wish there was more we could do."

Snowflake and I nodded silently. "But all we can do is wait," Snowflake grumbled helplessly.

And wait we did. Snowflake did got get up and begin pacing again, instead she just sat with us, her back turned to she could continue to watch the nurse work from afar. I took a brief moment to peer up at Sakura as she laid curled up on the table. The Skitty was fast asleep, understandably exhausted from the day we just had. I leaned back against the edge of the table, ignoring how uncomfortable it was. Honestly, I envied her. What I wouldn't give to just have the nurse finish her work already, so we could finally get some rest...

I shut my eyes for a moment, letting all the stress and anxiety flow away for just a moment...

I jumped awake to Heliolisks loud voice calling for Sakura to wake up. I blinked, peering around to find Snowflake and Kubo still wide awake watching as Sakura yawned and stood up from her place on the table. I rubbed my heavy eyes and shook my head to try and wake myself up. I must've fallen asleep in my chair. How long had it been..?

"Chansey should probably take a look at you, too." Heliolisk hummed, rubbing his chin as Sakura stumbled off the table. The bandages wrapped around Sakura's body were dirty now from all the digging around we had done when looking for my friend. She could definitely look better.

Sakura shook her head lazily. She was clearly still half asleep. "Later... right now all I need is sleep."

Heliolisk hummed. "Alright, then. Come with me, we'll need to find you a room."

"Guildmaster said I'd be next door," Sakura said, her voice slurring a little from her exhaustion.

"Oh! Well, let me show you to your room, then!" Heliolisk said matter-of-factly. He guided Sakura to the door, before turning to me, Snowflake and Kubo with a nod. "Good night you three. Make sure to get some rest as well," he said, before shutting the door behind him.

We were yet not alone in the room though, as Chansey was still packing up most of her things. As she finished, I found that she still left quite a bit of stuff behind. Probably for convenience. She approached the three of us with a soft smile.

"I'm sorry to make you all wait so long. You're friend is stable for now, and I think she'll be fine as long as she gets the time to rest. It'll take time, but she'll recover." Chansey said, and I could tell that she was tired too. We did wake her up for this, I supposed. I opened my mouth to apologise, but Snowflake spoke over me.

"We'll make sure to take good care of her, ma'am." She said with a bow of her head.

Chansey smiled. "I'm sure you will. But for now, we all need to get some rest. If you need me, I'll tell Haxorus that it's okay for you leave your room, okay?"

I nodded hastily, but Snowflake and Kubo seemed a bit confused at that. Chansey didn't seem to notice their confusion, however. "Good night!" She chirped, before blowing out the last candle still lit in our room, and taking her leave.

As the door closed shut behind her, the three of us sat in the darkness completely at a loss. Unsure of what to do now, I peered between my two friends uneasily.

"Welp," Kubo huffed, "that was an... interesting day." He stood from his stool and stretched his arms. "But I'll be happy to leave it behind us." He concluded, strolling over to his bed and plopping down into it, rolling over so he could lay on his belly, his head propped up by his arms. He smiled at us before gazing curiously at Mesprit.

She looked like a mummy with all the bindings that covered her body. She had a splint on one arm and though she was breathing, it was so shallow that I could hardly see it. I couldn't imagine how much work the nurse had to have done in order to get her stable like this. I felt a sting of regret for wasting so much time searching for my friend when we should've been taking care of Mesprit from the get go. I knew my friend was gone, but my denial did nothing but endanger Mesprit further.

Still... It wasn't all bad. She was recovering- Chansey said she'd be all better eventually. It just took time. I almost smiled, looking into her calm and untroubled sleeping face. Her face had a surprising lack of binding around it, so I could see it clearly. She had a cute, youthful look that I wouldn't have expected from the description Sakura gave. An ancient pokemon, huh...

As me and Snowflake moved away from the table to stand over Mesprit, I noticed Kubo was also still examining her sleeping face. His mouth was agape, and I could tell he didn't realize it. He seemed to entranced by her, and I raised an eyebrow in confusion. What was he seeing that was so interesting? I peered back at Mesprit, but she still looked the same. Was I missing something?

Kubo leaned up and rested his chin in his hands, his elbows holding him up. "She's quite pretty now that she's all cleaned up, huh?" he murmured, his eyes flickering up to me and Snowflake. I tilted my head.

"Yeah, I guess..." I replied, though I failed to hide my confusion.

Snowflake rolled her eyes. "Of course that's the first thing you notice," she said with an incredulous grin. Kubo flushed and frowned at her.

"What's that supposed to mean!" He huffed, which only made Snowflake chuckle wryly. Kubo huffed again and rolled onto his back, crossing his arms as he stared up at the ceiling. "I just..." He sighed. "I just hope she wakes up soon. I wanna know what she knows. This whole business really bugs me."

"Well, I guess we just have to do more waiting, huh?" Snowflake said with a tired grin.

I nodded and crossed my arms. "This better not become a regular thing," I chuckled, before stepping up to my bed and collapsing down on it. I sighed happily, and could already feel sleep creeping along the edges of my mind. I could distantly hear Snowflake laugh at my words, but then she stopped suddenly.

I blinked my eyes open, peering over at her. She stared down at Mesprit, her face blank. For a moment I worried that there was something wrong with the injured pokemon, before Snowflake flushed in embarrassment.

"Ah... Mesprit is using my bed." She whispered awkwardly. "Where am I supposed to sleep?"

She looked around, and noticed me watching her. I grinned sympathetically at her. "You can sleep with me for now, if ya want?" I said softly, flushing a little myself at the suggestion.

Snowflake smiled shyly, but complied. She quickly, yet silently, padded over to my bed, standing over me for a moment's hesitation. Her white fur seemed to glow through the darkness. I rolled to face away from her and to give her some room, and she graciously curled up at my side. I could feel her cool fur press up against my back, chilling me a little.

"Good night, Moss," she said, a smile in her voice.

"Night, Snowflake." I replied, my voice drawling a little from exhaustion.

"What, is nobody gonna say goodnight to me?" Kubo's offended voice called from across the room.

"No," I mumbled tiredly.

Kubo gasped dramatically, and said something along the lines of, 'how could you!?' but my mind was already in the middle of drifting away. I smiled sleepily and let my eyes finally slide shut.

For some reason, the soft coolness that radiated from Snowflake was more comforting than anything else I could imagine. Somehow, it managed to banish all worries from my mind. No fear for my friend, no worries about Mesprit, no anxieties about my future, or those beasts. It was just us, and for now, we were safe. I snuggled up closer to Snowflake, feeling her roll against me in return. And finally, after such a long and tiresome day, I managed to drift off into a comfortable sleep.

-

"Ah... O-ouchh..."

My ear twitched, and then my mind slowly drifted out of the darkness of sleep. It took me a long moment before I was awake enough to discern what the noise was that had awakened me.

"Ah-hooowww... " there was the sound of stifled, wet sniffling, "urrfff..."

I blinked my eyes open, and my ears jumped up, fully alert. Someone was crying- scratch that- more like sobbing.

I lifted my head, letting my eyes adjust to the darkness as I observed my room. It was still the middle of the night, if the moonlight gently shining through the window had anything to say. I rolled onto my back to peer at Snowflake, who was sleeping soundlessly at my side. Absently, I placed a hand on her shoulder to pet her fur comfortingly. I raised my eyes in continued search of the crying, and realized that the figure curled up on Snowflakes bed was twisting and turning in pain.

Mesprit...! She was awake!

I stumbled to my feet, much more awake now. I moved quickly yet quietly to her bed, bending down to peer closely at her. Her eyes were squeezed shut in pain, with pearls of tears trailing down her wet cheeks. She didn't seem to have noticed that I was there, as her head was tucked down under her arms as she twisted and turned painfully. I looked her over, but none of her bandages seemed to be bleeding through. I had no idea what was wrong, or how to comfort her. All I could think to do was place a very light hand down on her trembling shoulder.

"Hah!" She hissed in shock and pain, flinching away from my touch. But that movement only managed to pain her further, and she cringed, curling up tighter on herself. Still, she was fearfully aware of my presence now, and despite herself, she pried her eyes open to squint through her tears at me.

To my shock, her eyes seemed to glow through the darkness, shimmering a bright, vibrant amber colour. I forgot myself for a moment, gaping at the wondrous sight. I had to admit... I found it a lot easier to imagine her as a mysterious, mythical guardian now.

"Wh-... where...?" She croaked softly, wincing at the very act of speaking. "Where... a-am...?"

I wanted to comfort her, but I knew my touch would do nothing but hurt her. "You're safe- don't worry. We came to help you as quickly as we could." She blinked at me blankly, and I could tell she had a million questions that she was not well enough to ask. I cleared my throat nervously. "My name is Moss... I assume you've... heard of me?"

She managed a small shakey nod. I sighed in relief. She- too- seemed a bit less anxious knowing that she was in my presence. I wasn't a total stranger, at the very least. "Is there anything... I can do you help?" I asked softly. I just wanted to help...

"W-water," she breathed, her voice raspy. She shut her eyes and whined, trying to hold down her groans of pain. "P-please... make it stop..."

I hummed seriously. I wasn't sure if this world had anything like painkillers, but I could- at the very least- get her something to drink. "Just hold tight, okay? I'll be back as soon as possible."

I stood and turned, rushing out of the room as quietly as possible. It would be faster to do this by myself. The only place I could think of to go was the kitchen, where surely there was some water sitting around. I ran through the hallways as swiftly as possible, but on my travels I failed to remember something very important. Before I could realize what was happening, a vice-grip had locked around my wrist and had lifted me into the air.

"Waah!" I gasped, struggling helplessly. What...?

I craned my neck to look at the figure that was hovering over me, finding it to be the same Haxorus I encountered earlier. "o-oh! You!" I gasped, but before I could ask him for help, he growled.

"What did I tell you, kid? I said I didn't want to see you again!" He snarled, adjusting his grip on my arm and wrapping his arm around my chest instead. "we're going to the Guildmaster." He huffed gruffly.

"W-wait! Nurse Chansey said it was okay for me and my team to leave our rooms!" I struggled under his grasp, but he didn't even budge. "We have a patient to take care of- and she needs water and painkillers!"

He didn't stop walking, but he hummed in acknowledgement. "Hm. Now that I think about it, I suppose she did mention something like that to me..." He thought for a moment, finally pausing his movements. Then without warning, he ungraciously dropped me on the ground.

"Ouch!" I yelped.

"Shh!" He hissed, "We don't need you waking anybody else. C'mon. I'll bring you what you need."

And with that he began to walk off again. I stood, rubbing my behind grumpily. 'Maybe I wouldn't've yelped if you hadn't just dropped me from so high up,' I thought with a huff, but quickly scampered after him. Every one step for him was three steps for me, and I struggled to keep pace with him.

Haxorus lead me down a hallway that lead to the Nurses office, and to my surprise, he lead me inside. Chansey was sitting at a table, a single candle illuminating her work as she seemed to be writing something on a piece of paper. She blinked in surprise to see me and Haxorus enter her room. "Huh? What is it? Is there something wrong with our patient?" She asked worriedly, moving out of her chair.

"This boy needs water and painkillers," Haxorus said, his deep voice rumbling powerfully, "he said you authorized him to leave his room." While it wasn't worded like a question, I could tell it was. I wondered why he felt the need to ask, when surely he already knew the answer.

"Oh yes, yes of course," Chansey said, waving her hand flippantly. Her gaze was not on us as she spoke, already rummaging through her room for the pills she needed. "I'm surprised she's already awake! That means she's doing even better than I expected," Chansey said happily, pulling a small container from one of her cupboards. "Here it is," She mumbled softly.

Haxorus and I continued to stand at the door, watching as she moved about. I started to feel antsy, shifting from foot to foot as I watched. I needed to get back...

"Now, don't be afraid to come get more help if you need it, okay?" Chansey sang, suddenly stepping in front of me. I jumped, craning my neck just to be able to look her in the face.

"R-right," I stuttered, caught a bit off guard. Chansey handed me the items, and I held the cup of water sturdily in one paw and the two small pills in the other. I bowed my head, "Thank you, doctor." I mumbled, before turning and leaving. From behind me, I heard Haxorus thank her for her time, before his heavy footsteps followed after mine. It didn't take long for him to catch up with me.

I turned to him. "What?" I asked, a bit confused. Couldn't he see the situation was under control now?

"I need to escort you back to your room," he grumbled, "I can't have pokemon running around the guild without supervision."

I huffed, looking away from him. "Fine, but I'm not doing anything wrong. I just want to help my... friend."

"I know." He said, and I peered back up at him in surprise. That almost sounded... sympathetic? He shook his head with a tired sigh. "I'm sorry." He said curtly, frowning at me. "I don't mean to be so short with you. I just hate that the Guildmaster seated me with this dumb job."

I breathed in amusement, grinning back up at him wryly. "Yeah... I guess you don't get much sleep, huh?"

He nodded, "you don't know the half of it, kid."

We reached my room, and I paused long enough before entering to wave goodbye to him. He waved back and continued walking down the hallway, ready to get back to his patrolling. I shut the door and turned around, peering over at Snowflakes bed. From across the room I could see Mesprit's eyes glowing softly, staring back at me. I could see pain in her eyes, and felt empowered, knowing that I'd be able to make it go away now.

I stepped up to her, wordlessly showing her the pills. She clenched her teeth, struggling to open her mouth. I put the cup of water down to help her shift into a position more suitable for eating. She breathed heavily, but once she was able to calm down and hold her mouth open, I placed the pills on her tongue and handed her the cup. Her hands shook so badly that I needed to help support them, but once she managed to take a sip and swallow the pills, she seemed to immediately calm down.

With a deep sigh, she flopped back down onto the bed, relief filling her eyes. She laid on her back and stared up at me, wiping her wet cheeks with the backs of her hands. Slowly, I could see a shaky, thankful smile stretch across her cheeks. "Moss..." She breathed, before her eyes slowly fell shut.

I blinked down at her, watching as her breathing became slow and relaxed. Hopefully, now she'd be able to sleep comfortably. I placed the cup on the table and made my way back to my bed. Snowflake had stretched out across it in the time I had been missing, and I chuckled softly at that. I gently pushed her aside and rolled up next to her. She sighed, but didn't awaken.

I peered around the darkness of my room, wondering how long it'd be until morning. As long as Mesprit got a good sleep, I supposed it didn't matter. She was the only hope we had of finding my friend, but more than that, she was someone we had managed to save, if no one else. The Guildmasters words whispered through my mind.

We hadn't failed, not entirely. Mesprit was here, and she was alive. She was going to get better. We managed to do some good in the world.

'Hold on, my friend. We'll be able to save you too... I'm sure of it.'


	8. Chapter 8

I drifted awake as I felt something poke at my ear. I twitched away from the touch, huffing tiredly. The annoying touch came again, this time lightly pulling on my ear. I groaned and moved my head away, lifting it up and blinking drearily at whatever had awoken me.

Two incredibly smug grins stared back at me.

I yelped, jumping up into a seated position and promptly falling backwards over Snowflake, who had been curled up behind me. "Whuh?" Snowflake groaned, lifting her head to find me doubled over her back. She turned to look at what had startled me, and found Sakura and Lycanroc smirking at us.

"Morning, lovebirds!" Lycanroc snickered, standing up tall with her arms crossed confidently. "I was so worried about you guys. I thought you'd come back badly hurt- or worse: not at all- but instead you come back with this little scamp," she ruffled the fur on Sakura's head, making the Skitty giggle softly, "and you saved the pokemon you were after! I'm impressed."

She turned and moved to wake up Kubo, still speaking casually to us. "Though I must say, I didn't expect you'd get all lovey-dovey on us~!" She sang teasingly, before bending down and shaking Kubo's shoulder to awaken him. "Wake up, little dude! It's morning!"

I managed to clamber off of Snowflakes back, the both of us flushing in embarrassment. Sakura didn't seem at all sympathetic, grinning at us knowingly. I blushed deeper. What was that look for? "We're not..." I stuttered, unable to finish the sentence.

"How's Mesprit doing?" Kubo's voice cut through my flustered thoughts. I peered over at him as he climbed out of bed to stand next to Mesprit, fretting over her as she slept. I tilted my head, curious as to why he was so worried.

'Well, why wouldn't he be,' I reasoned. 'She's badly hurt after all.'

"Give her some space, Kubo," Snowflake said, putting on a mask of stoicism when she was obviously still a bit flustered by Lycanroc's words. She stepped up beside Kubo and lightly pushed him aside so she could look the sleeping legendary pokemon over. He hovered at her side, blinking his wide eyes worriedly. Me and Sakura continued to watch from a small distance, and Lycanroc peered over Kubo and Snowflakes heads to have a look at Mesprit herself. The rock-type whistled.

"Dang, she's in bad shape. I'm surprised you guys didn't also get roughed up." Lycanroc mused.

Snowflake sighed and moved away, shaking her head. "She was knocked out when we got there, we were lucky enough to not need to face whatever did this to her."

I huffed, crossing my arms. Lycanroc turned to look at me from the corner of her eye. "It wasn't luck. We should've been there. Then we could've saved... my friend."

"You mean this isn't your friend?" Lycanroc asked in confusion. I shook my head. "Huh," she hummed at that, scratching her chin.

She shook her head and grinned. "Well, I've got to wake up the other guild members. See you guys!" She sang, skipping over to the door and shutting it behind herself.

I sighed, lying back down onto my bed tiredly. I stared up at the ceiling and passively listened to my friends as they chatted.

"So... Is she okay?" Kubo asked, using a laid-back tone in order to mask his unease.

"Yes, she seems like she's doing alright." Snowflake said gently. "I'm not much of a doctor, though. Maybe we should get the-"

"-We should go buy some medicine for her! I know a shop in town that sells herbs that could be helpful!" Kubo cut in hastily.

"Is that really necessary?" Sakura piped up, her voice getting more distant as she approached the two. "I'm sure the guild-"

"C'mon guys! They put her under our care! We should be prepared! Plus we don't even know if the nurse is awake!" I found myself grinning slightly at his insistence. I didn't expect Kubo to take this so seriously.

I could hear Snowflake sigh, and I grinned wider. Kubo always seemed to tire her out. "Okay okay..." she paused. "Moss? What do you think about this?" She paused again. "Moss? What are you doing?"

I lifted my head to peer over at them, but I wasn't fast enough to prepare for the figure that was rapidly approaching. "Oof!" I gasped as Sakura shamelessly jumped and slammed into my stomach.

"C'mon, Moss! I thought Lycanroc and I did a good job of waking you up." She frowned at me. I gasped and swatted her away with one paw. She jumped off me with an amused huff. I curled up in a ball and glared at her. "Well, you did a good job just now, alright?"

Sakura sniggered. Kubo crossed his arms from his place beside Mesprit's bed. "This is serious, guys! Don't you want to help Mesprit?"

I nodded, pulling myself from the bed and rubbing my stomach absently. "Of course, Kubo." I said. "C'mon, let's go get some medicine."

His face lit up at my words, and he immediately bounded out the door. Snowflake shook her head but followed after him. As she passed by Sakura, she frowned at her. "Sakura, can you stay here and watch Mesprit? In case she wakes up." The Skitty tilted her head in confusion, but ultimately nodded. "Sure..."

I followed Snowflake out the door, and as we slowly followed Kubo out of the guild, Snowflake smiled apologetically at me. "Are you alright?" She asked. I frowned. "Huh?" She rolled her eyes, amused, and looked away. "Of course, you are. Sakura probably isn't even that heavy, huh?"

I blinked in realization. "Oh, ahaha, well... no, but that doesn't mean it was pleasant." I laughed, awkwardly scratching at the back of my head. Snowflake laughed too, and I could see her blush slightly. I smiled to myself, looking away.

Suddenly, a thought came to my mind. Did Snowflake ask Sakura to stay behind because she thought she had hurt me?

When we caught up to Kubo, he was pacing back and forth in front of the gate. He jumped at our arrival. "Come on guys, every minute counts, she could wake up at any moment! We gotta hurry!" He turned and scampered away, climbing up the incline of the mountain, and for a moment all Snowflake and I did was peer curiously at each other.

"Is it just me, or is he acting weird?" I asked. Snowflake giggled and smiled sympathetically. "C'mon," she said instead of answering, and quickly ran off after him. I frowned, confused, but shortly ran after her.

The town was just as lush and colourful as ever, but in the early morning sun, it had a sluggish air to it as well. Dew dotted the leaves of every tree and bush, and the few pokemon we passed were tiredly rubbing at their eyes. Everyone seemed half asleep. One particular Zorua even seemed annoyed when it saw me and Snowflake run past, almost as if it was jealous of our energetic pace.

Overall, the town was very quiet. Many pokemon were still sleeping and the cool mountainous air was refreshing. A part of me wanted to slow down and appreciate the calm silence of the morning, but if I fell behind, I'd undoubtedly get lost. When Kubo suddenly stopped, Snowflake and I almost came crashing into him. Luckily We managed to slide to a halt, but in my exhaustion, I didn't manage to keep my balance. Tripping over my own feet, I fell onto my face, panting tiredly. Why did this shop have to be up the hill? Snowflake bent down to lift me up, and I wrapped my arm around her neck to pull myself to my feet.

Kubo shook his head and tsked as he looked at us. "You two really need to train more." The only reply he got was a glare from Snowflake. He pouted back.

"Aaaanyway," he said dramatically, turning to present the building that stood behind him, "here's the Pharmacy."

The small building was partially built into the side of the mountain, and had bushes lining its sides. It had elegant little carvings of flowers and trees in the wood around the door frame. I was impressed. What kind of pokemon could make something so detailed and delicate?

Kubo dramatically held the door open for us, ushering us in as if he was a butler of some sort. Snowflake lead me inside, and I peered around the small front office curiously. Behind a counter stood an Audino, her elbows on the hardwood and her head in her hands. Upon our entrance, she stifled a yawn and smiled at us. "Good morning!" She said with artificial enthusiasm. "How can I help you?"

"Good morning," Snowflake said politely, "We would like some pain medication, to help with physical injuries?"

Audino nodded attentively. "I've got just the thing," She said, turning and rummaging through the contents on the shelf behind the desk. "These herbs help with fast recovery and pain relief. Ah, here we are!" She turned again, placing a bag on the counter. It seemed to be filled with leaves or petals of some kind. "These should be drunk as a tea everyday. The taste is a little bitter, but it must be drunk to take effect."

Kubo jumped up to the counter to grab the bag, placing some Poké in return. He jumped back onto the floor and rushed out the door without a word. I raised an eyebrow after him, and Snowflake sighed. "Thank you, miss." She said. Audino nodded with an amused grin. "Don't worry. He's been in here many times." She said with a wink. With that, Snowflake and I followed Kubo out the door. To my dismay, he immediately ran off, and I groaned. We would have to run after him again to keep up.

At least it was downhill this time.

-

When we finally slipped back into our room, we found Sakura sitting next to Mesprit. She was sitting up- awake- in her bed. She looked almost comical, sitting up as if perfectly fine, yet her body was wrapped up like a mummy. If it weren't for her bandages and bruises, she would look completely fine. She and Sakura seemed to have been chatting, but fell silent at our arrival. My heart lurched anxiously as I realized that we'd soon be able to ask her about everything she knew.

"oh, we were too late!" Kubo lamented, rushing up to her side. He gazed at Mesprit with wide, worried eyes. "How-" he cut himself off, suddenly realizing who he was talking to. He stuttered awkwardly, diverting his gaze. "H-how are you feeling?" He asked, flustered.

I blinked. Where did this come from?

"I... I'm fine." Mesprit said, her voice soft and emotionless. She stared at him curiously, making Kubos face turn a bright red. Turning his head away, he croaked out a, "t-that's good," before shying away.

As Snowflake and I joined the others and stood around Mesprit, Kubo strangely went from trying to be the center of attention to now bashfully hiding behind my back, as if fearful of Mesprit's attention. I blinked at him, before turning to peer at Mesprit.

Her eyes still seemed to glow, the vibrant amber colour still shining brightly even in the daylight. She stared back at me, her eyes sturdy and scrutinizing. I felt frozen under her gaze. Something about it was... overwhelming; perhaps even entrancing. Maybe that's what had startled Kubo?

"Um... Mesprit?" Mesprit and I turned to peer over at Snowflake, whose voice was soft and filled with concern. "Are you sure you're alright?"

Mesprit blinked her wide, amber eyes, and I realized suddenly that I had no idea how to read her emotions. She hid them flawlessly.

"Yes, I am quite fine." She said softly. "It appears that we have not been properly introduced." She looked back at me. "I know your name," she then turned her head smoothly, gazing at Sakura, "and I know your's now too, but..."

With curiosity in her eyes, she leaned to the side as if to look behind me. "Who is this?" She asked.

Kubo made a small, anxious noise, but still stepped out from behind me and moved to my side instead. I raised an eyebrow at the soft blush on his face. "I'm Kubo," he said, shyly meeting her gaze. Then he suddenly seemed to regain his confidence, as he raised the bag of herbs into the air victoriously. "I got you something to help with your recovery!" He announced, stepping up to her and showing her the leaves. "It's tea!"

Mesprit blinked down at the medicine for a moment, before reaching out a hand to hold it. He happily placed it in her hand and she lifted it up to analyze it. "...Thank you," She said. She smiled politely at him, which make him puff himself up confidently.

"Of course!" He said, clearly very pleased with himself.

Mesprit then turned to Snowflake. Once again, curiosity shone in her eyes. "What's your name?" She asked.

Snowflake seemed a bit too concerned to smile, but there was kindness in her eyes as she responded. "My name is Snowflake," she said, "um, do you need something to eat? I'm sure you're starving."

Mesprit shook her head. "I'm fine." She said again. "There's more important things for us to worry about, after all."

My heart lurched again. Oh god, I wasn't sure I was really ready for us to talk about this. Beating around the bush was much easier on my heart. Why couldn't Mesprit let us procrastinate on it a little more? Was it really that serious?

Snowflake seemed a little off-put by Mesprit's response, but Sakura nodded. "Yeah, me and Mesprit were talking before you guys got here. She didn't want to tell me everything until you guys showed up, but it sounds pretty important to me."

Snowflake huffed, and sat down to listen. I followed suit and Kubo plopped down at my side, crossing his legs with an uneasy look on his face. I could see him try to say something, but for some reason he couldn't.

"I'm not sure where to start..." Mesprit admitted, grinning apologetically. Sakura smiled at her, and I was a bit surprised at how familiar her gaze already was. I couldn't help but wonder what Sakura was thinking. This was, after all, the guardian she had been told stories about all her life. Perhaps, in a way, she felt like she already knew her.

"How about you tell us how you got here?" Sakura suggested. Mesprit turned to her curiously. "The beasts?" Sakura nodded.

"Yes, well... I suppose." Mesprit took a deep breath, and then looked at each of us, her gaze hard and serious. I could hardly believe she was the same pokemon who had been crying in pain last night, she seemed so mysterious and powerful now...

"For a while now, I could feel something foreboding in the air. But, as the nature of my job pertains, I am incapable of leaving my home. I am it's guardian after all, so I was unable to investigate the bad feeling in my gut." Mesprit shivered and crossed her arms. "Then the beasts began to show up. And as the beasts started to come in greater and greater numbers, it was all I could do to keep them away from my castle. But then..."

She peered up at me, and I almost jumped. Her eyes seemed to bore into me. "The one who told me of you showed up. She came to me for protection, and I was happy to oblige."

I tried to swallow the lump in my throat, but it stubbornly remained. Still, I managed to speak. "What... what's her name?" I asked.

Mesprit smiled softly, and I could see pity in her eyes. "Cosmog told me of many things, including your amnesia. I didn't realize she had failed to reintroduce herself, however."

Cosmog... so that was her name... I searched through my memory in hopes of remembering what kind of pokemon that was... but I found nothing. I was no more closer to figuring out her identity that before. At least I had a name to attach to the voice, now. Cosmog...

"I was glad to have saved her, especially since she knew what was going on in the world. Finally, I understood where the beasts were coming from." Mesprit continued, pulling me from my thoughts.

"Really?" I breathed, "where?"

"They have been sent here from another world. A world that has been sealed away from us long ago. But since the beasts are now showing up, there is no doubt. The seals have been broken, and now they are dominating our world." Mesprit shut her eyes, her face calm yet filled with grief.

"So that's how they got here... If we could seal them away again, that'd save the world, right?" Sakura asked softly. Mesprit hesitated to answer her.

Snowflake shifted at my side, her own question in mind. "You said... the beasts were 'sent' here, correct?" She asked. Mesprit nodded, not opening her eyes. "Who... is sending them?"

The legendary sighed, as if weighed down by the knowledge. "Cosmog spoke of him very infrequently, I could tell that she was too afraid, so I never pushed her. But I do know this..." She opened her eyes, her gaze roving over us. "His name is Necrozma. He is a monstrous creature that intends to destroy our world by stealing all our light, and leaving us in eternal darkness."

She shifted a little, her serious expression breaking into anger for a moment before she steeled herself again. "He cannot do so, however, until he... well..." She frowned angrily again, her eyes drifting to the floor. "Cosmog didn't want to tell me everything, but she told me that he needs her to accomplish his goal. That's why he was after her."

My eyes went wide. 'And now he's captured her,' I thought helplessly, a sick feeling in my gut.

We all sat in grim silence for a moment, taking in what she told us. I felt myself choking up. I couldn't breathe. Or speak. I had no idea what this Necrozma looked like, but...

I remembered the huge, red beast that I had encountered multiple times. It was following Necrozmas orders, right? So that meant that he was undoubtedly bigger, stronger, smarter...

We were up against something as dangerous as that?

Suddenly, Kubo spoke up. "Why is Moss involved in all this, then?"

I jumped up, my eyes going wide again. Yes... with all the beasts that were after me, that meant that Necrozma wanted something from me, too. I stared desperately at her, and Mesprit slowly moved to peer back at me. Her eyes glimmered mystically. She smiled, sympathy in her amber eyes.

"I admit, I'm not quite sure... But she often spoke very highly of you." Mesprit looked away, smiling sadly to herself at the memories. "She said that without you, she was alone in this fight. That without your help, there was no hope of winning." She turned to look at me, and I blinked in surprise at how warm her eyes were. "When the seals broke and the beasts came into our world, she knew that you were the only one who could help her."

She didn't take her eyes off me the entire time she spoke. I had no idea what made Cosmog think I was so special. What could I do? I hadn't even been able to save her from the beasts. I was nothing special...

"She brought you to this world because she needed your help, but something went wrong..." Mesprit continued, and I blinked at her. Cosmog... had brought me here? "The two of you were separated... and you were changed from human to pokemon... she didn't tell me how that happened to you, and honestly I don't even know if she completely understood why..."

"But I do know one thing," Mesprit paused, and I waited for her to speak with bated breath. She gazed at me for a moment. "When Cosmog spoke of you, I didn't know whether to trust in her faith or not. But now that I've met you..." Her eeys twinkled happily, "I can tell that you really are the hero she made you out to be."

At that, everyone fell into silence. but slowly I realized that everyone's eyes had fallen on me. I flushed in embarrassment, despite my shock. I... how was I supposed to take this?

What made Cosmog choose to bring me here? Did we know each other? Was I really that special? But I was weak- and a failure... wasn't I?

It was almost as if Mesprit had read my thoughts, as she reached out a hand and lightly placed it on my shoulder. "Do not worry, Moss. There's still a chance to save her. Necrozma did not want her dead." She smiled encouragingly, her eyes asking me to cheer up.

I managed a weak smile in return. "I suppose that's comforting," I chuckled without humour.

"What do you mean! That's great news!" Kubo announced jovially, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and slinging me to his side. "We haven't lost now and we won't lose in the end either! After all, we have you here to help us, don't we?" He grinned slyly at me, making me flush in embarrassment.

"I doubt I'm really all that special! I can barely even do anything!" I felt the need to protest.

Sakura grinned, "Well, I don't know what a human is, but I'm sure you being one is an advantage. Humans must have some really cool superpowers, right?" She leaned in closer, as if she'd find something unusual about me. I squirmed under her gaze and ducked my head out from under Kubo's arm.

"No, humans aren't special at all!" I huffed, crossing my arms.

"Well, they're special to us," Snowflake said softly, making me turn to face her. She smiled warmly at me, almost as if she was... proud of me? "There are no humans in this world. That makes you pretty special, don't you think?"

I huffed, puffing out my cheeks. "I-... I guess so..."

Snowflake smiled, and seemed inclined to say more, but she was interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Moss?" Heliolisk's voice made me turn, and as he opened the door he stepped inside with an air of professionalism. He placed both hands politely behind his back.

"Y-yes?" I asked curiously.

"The Guildmaster wishes to speak with you immediately. I must inquire that you follow me." He replied, his head held high and proud.

He was acting especially formal, so I imagined the Guildmaster made him believe this to be particularly important. So I nodded, and pulled myself to my feet. Kubo jumped to his feet as well, an excited look on his face.

"I know! I'll make Mesprit the tea!" He turned to Mesprit, and his excitement froze for a moment. He seemed to stutter a little, before saying in a much softer voice, "would you like that?" He asked.

Mesprit giggled, but shook her head. "That won't be necessary. I'm perfectly fine!" Kubo deflated sadly.

Snowflake frowned, troubled by her flippant behaviour. "No, you're still very injured! I think the tea would be a great idea." She turned to the Froakie. "You should make it, Kubo."

Mesprit sighed, but didn't argue. Kubo jumped up excitedly again. "You'll really like it, I got it just for you after all!" And with that, he linked his arm with mine and pulled me to the door, where Heliolisk was waiting. I frowned at him in confusion. He sure was jumping around a lot lately, huh? Heliolisk peered down at us.

"well, if we're going now, I shall take you to the Guildmaster." He said impatiently.

I nodded up at him with an apologetic smile, before Kubo happily pulled me out the door.

-

Guildmaster Serperiors room was surprisingly different from what I expected. While it was clean- like I expected it to be- it wasn't boring or barren. Instead, it had various nick nacks lying around and on shelves, as well as many expensive-looking items. As Heliolisk guided me into the room, I found Serperior sitting tall and proud as always in the middle of the room, coiled up on a large, soft rug. I cleared my throat nervously. I always felt studied when under her empty gaze.

"Moss," she said, her voice serious, yet strangely warm. "How is... Mesprit?"

I jumped, surprised by the question. I wasn't sure what she had called me here for, but for some reason I didn't expect it to be about her. I supposed it made sense. It wasn't very often you had a legendary under your roof, after all. "U-um, well she's awake and she seems to be doing okay." I paused, unsure of what else to say. "We were just talking with her, actually."

Serperior hummed. "That is good." She looked away from me for a moment, her tail dragging lazily across her soft rug. "You see, as her health is you and your team's responsibility, I have decided to give you time off of training. As long as she is bedridden, you are permitted to forgo any missions that would otherwise be mandatory."

I blinked in surprise. "T-thank you, Guildmaster," I stuttered, hastily taking a bow. She seemed satisfied with this, and her only response was to eye me closely. I frowned, confused. That was it? She could have simply told Heliolisk to tell that to me...

Likewise thinking this her inclination that I should leave, Heliolisk jumped into action. "Now, Moss, the Guildmaster is very busy-"

Impulsively, I cut over him, "Guildmaster, is that truly all you wished to say to me?"

Heliolisk froze, completely flabbergasted by my bold act of speaking to the Guildmaster without permission. I myself was a but startled, and I laughed awkwardly. "I- I mean, um..."

But Serperior did not seem upset by my actions. Instead, to my incredible disbelief, she smiled softly. Her eyes twinkled with amusement as she smiled down at me, and she shook her head as if to dispel my unease.

"You are indeed correct," she said, her smile dropping into something more relaxed. "I did not call you here simply to tell you that." The smile did not disappear. Instead, she smiled down at me, her head still held high, but something about her eyes... they made me feel as if she no longer saw herself as above me.

Serperior peered at Heliolisk for a moment, and the electric-type immediately calmed down. I could only assume the wordless exchange they shared told him there was no reason to be upset. The Guildmaster returned her attention to me. "Tell me, Moss... did Mesprit have any important news about this 'Beast Crisis' we are currently facing?"

Oh. I almost felt the need to hit myself in the head in irritation at my own obliviousness. Of course! That's what this was about.

I held my hands behind my back nervously instead. "Yes, she did."

Serperior tilted her head, but did not say anything. Her smile was now gone, hidden behind a new look of impassivity.

"She said the beasts are able to get into our world because of some sort of... seal that has broken." I repeated Mesprit's words, finding it almost unreal. I hadn't been given enough time to let the information sink in yet. How was I the key to all of this? Why did the beasts want me? "They come from another world, and now that the seal is broken, they are able to freely come and go." I paused and peered up at her, curious of her response.

She seemed almost to have not heard me, but as I finished, she nodded slightly. "I see. It would be of vital importance that our guild research this 'seal,' and how it is to be reactivated." She eyed Heliolisk critically.

"Oh, right!" He yelped, grasping his clipboard and writing down her words.

She turned back to me and continued her thought. "It shall be important to learn how it is these creatures travel between worlds, and how this seal is capable of stopping them. It is also important to find out why they are invading." She eyed me. "Is it pooible that they have a goal?"

I hesitated. Should I tell her? If she knew they were after me, would she think me too much of a risk to keep around? Would she kick me out of the guild?

I shook my head. No, no... Explorers were supposed to help others in need. Plus, if I told her about Necrozma, there was no way she'd kick me out, right? If he caught me, he'd be able to take all the light from the world. In that case, they'd be determined to keep me safe, right? But then, if that happened, would they force me to stay in hiding, unable to go and save Cosmog? She needed me! I couldn't hide away like a coward!

Serperior seemed to take notice of my prolonged silence. She hummed thoughtfully. "Perhaps... Mesprit does not know this?"

I jumped out of my thoughts, and peered guiltily up at her. Was she... giving me an out?

"W-well... if she does, she hasn't gotten the chance to tell us yet." I mumbled, smiling up at her fearfully.

Serperior nodded knowingly, and I couldn't help but wonder if she truly knew what it was that went through my head. "I see. Well, if the time comes, I would find it very useful information." She concluded, lowering her head to look more directly at me. "You are free to go."

I bowed hastily. "T-thank you, Guildmaster. I will do all I can to help find a way to stop the beasts."

She nodded, but didn't speak any further. Taking the hint, I turned and stepped out of her room. Upon shutting the door behind me, I took the time to take a deep breath. I pressed a paw into my chest, feeling my heartbeat. My heart was pounding a little too hard for how calm the conversation had been. I wasn't sure if I had made the right choice about lying to her, but a part of me felt like she understood. Maybe she knew I needed more time to mull this over.

Whatever it was, I supposed I should just be thankful. I stepped away from the door, wondering where to go. I supposed that I'd return to my room, but then I remembered Kubo. I wasn't sure if he'd be done making the tea yet or not, so I decided to go and check on him. I jogged to the dining area, and the kitchen that was situated closeby.

"Kubo?" I called, peering curiously around the room for him. I found him boiling water in a small pot over a fire pit. It was about the size of a teapot, I supposed, but it wasn't shaped like one. Kubo glanced up at me upon my entrance, an enthusiastic grin jumping onto his face immediately.

"Hey, dude!" He called cheerily. He hopped over to me to slap me on the back amicably. "How was the chat with the Guildmaster? She didn't eat ya, did she?"

"Obviously," I replied tiredly, but smiled anyway. He hopped back to his pot and peered inside.

"i'm not so great at using fire." He gestured to himself, as if that was explanation enough. I supposed it was. "But the pokemon who usually cooks is out on a mission, so I had to do it myself. Which is why it's taking sooo looong." He huffed in annoyance and grabbed a stick to poke at the logs that crackled in the fire.

"Well, I can't help you there," I said with a grin as I stepped over to him. "Grass types don't get along with fire either."

Kubo laughed. "That's one thing we have in common," he said, but quickly became despondent. "How am I supposed to make tea for Mesprit if I can't cook the water?"

I peered closer, and noted how the water seemed to simmer slightly. I hummed thoughtfully. "You're not doing too bad."

He lit up at that. "Really?" he asked, his eyes shimmering hopefully. I nodded, but couldn't help but be surprised by how emotional he was. All of a sudden his emotions were going all over the place. Why was that?

"We should grab the herbs and get ready to finish the tea." I said, turning to peer around. As if pulling it out of thin air, Kubo held up the bag of tea leaves.

"Okay!" He said cheerily, standing up tall to sprinkle the leaves into the pot.

As he did so, I heard someone clear their throat from behind me, making me jump. "Wah!" Turning around in shock, I found that Heliolisk had suddenly appeared out of seemingly nowhere.

"Hello boys," he said, his eyes narrow and serious. I found myself surprised by his demeanour. Last I saw him, he seemed pretty flustered. Was he perhaps disgruntled by my behaviour? I hoped he wasn't angry with me...

"What are you two doing here?" He asked, and I could tell by his voice that we were definitely not supposed to be in here right now.

The edge in his tone was completely lost on Kubo, who smiled at him in amused confusion. "What do you mean 'what are we doing here?' We're cooking the tea for Mesprit, obviously! You were there!" Kubo laughed, and put a large wooden spoon into the pot to swirl the tea leaves around.

Alarm flashed over Heliolisks face for a moment before the emotion was steeled behind an unimpressed frown. "Oh. Right. Well," He stepped closer, peering into the pot, "it's coming along nicely." I couldn't help but wonder what he was doing here himself. He usually didn't speak to us unless the Guildmaster told him to, and when he did, he was polite, but didn't procrastinate on getting the interaction over-with. Perhaps he was off-duty?

Heliolisk inhaled deeply, taking a good sniff of the tea. He hummed thoughtfully. "Smells nice."

Kubo nodded and opened his mouth to speak, but Heliolisk continued speaking over him. "You should prepare lunch for Mesprit as well, don't you think?"

Kubo immediately forgot his previous words, his face lighting up excitedly. "Oh! I never even thought of that!" He turned to me, his eyes sparkling. "C'mon, Moss! Let's make her something really good!" He grabbed my arm and tugged me farther into the kitchen. He immediately began to rummage through the options, mumbling to himself (and to me) about what kinds of foods Mesprit may like. His enthusiasm was entertaining- if not confusing- but I found myself distracted by Heliolisk, who continued to curiously eye the boiling pot.

"The tea seems about done," the electric-type mused, "would you two mind if I took it to Mesprit for you? Since you'll be busy making lunch."

Kubo- thinking nothing of it- waved a hand without even turning around to look at him. "Of course! Make sure to tell her it's from me!"

Heliolisk nodded absently, and when he saw me eyeing him curiously, he frowned. "You'd do best not to eye your superiors like that, boy."

I flushed, and immediately diverted my eyes back to the food Kubo was arranging before me. What was that for? I didn't think I was being that rude...

I couldn't see him, but I could hear the crackling of the fire get interrupted by a harsh hiss, as Heliolisk drenched the fire in water. Then, I heard the shifting of metal, and the soft sound of footsteps. Slowly, the footsteps faded into nothingness. He had left with the tea. I let out a deep breath, the uneasy tension fading. What had gotten into him? He was usually pretty curt with us, but...

"Moss! C'mon dude are you even listening to me?" Kubo snapped his fingers in front of my face.

"Ah!" I gasped in surprise, pulled from my thoughts. I turned to him. "Oh," I scratched at the back of my head in embarrassment, "sorry about that. What were you saying?"

Kubo huffed, crossing his arms, but I could tell he was having too much fun to really be annoyed by my absent-mindedness.

-

"Ta-da!" Kubo announced proudly as he kicked the door to the room open and carried in two plates of food. I followed him sheepishly, carrying two more plates of food in my hands and one plate balanced on my head. Snowflake smiled pityingly at me, Sakura seemed excited at the prospect of food, and Mesprit simply stared at us, her head tilted in curiosity.

It had taken Kubo an annoyingly long time to arrange our food, and by the time we finally decided on something, I found my stomach grumbling angrily. I hadn't planned on eating so soon, but in response to my complaints, Kubo decided we should make food for everyone. This, of course, only made us take longer. I sighed tiredly as I treaded over to the girls who sat in a triangle together.

In one grand sweeping motion, Kubo placed a plate of food in front of Mesprit and one on front of himself. "We made you lunch! Well, I did. Moss only helped a little." He said, grinning slyly.

I frowned at him, placing two plates in front of Snowflake and Sakura, and then placing the one on my head in front of myself. As I sat down next to Kubo, I playfully punched him in the shoulder. "You wish you could cook on your own," I laughed, "you're hopeless."

Kubo stuck his tognue out at me childishly. Snowflake rolled her eyes, and Sakura grinned cheekily. She eyed Mesprit smugly, who put a hand to her mouth to stifle a giggle. This garnered Kubo's attention, as he flushed in embarrassment. "What?"

"Noooothing," Sakura drawled, making Mesprit giggle again.

I blinked in confusion, turning to Snowflake for an idea of what they thought was so funny. But she only rolled her eyes again. She turned to Kubo, clearly intent on changing the subject. "Kubo, I thought you left to make Mesprit the herbal tea? What happened to that?"

Kubo and I both frowned at her. "What do you mean?" Kubo asked. "Heliolisk said he'd bring it to you, since lunch was gonna take a little while to make."

Mesprit shook her head. "Nope. Nobody ever came by with the tea."

We all sat in silence for a moment, each of us wondering what had happened. I found my past unease weighing back down on me. So Heliolisk really was acting suspicious, and I wasn't overthinking things. Why had he taken the tea? He knew how injured Mesprit was.

I remembered how he and nurse Chansey had fussed over her last night, and I frowned deeper. What made him act so differently now?

Why would he steal the tea?


	9. Chapter 9

"C'mon Moss, I'm sure you're just overthinking this." Snowflake said, clearly a bit too tired to deal with any more drama.

Still, I couldn't help but feel unconvinced. "Think about it, it's undeniably weird! Heliolisk cares very much about Mesprit's health," I paused, humming in thought, "Or, he seemed to last night. Why would he steal the tea?" I didn't think that the Heliolisk we met in the kitchen was the same Heliolisk we knew. I knew I hadn't known him long, but I could see how takes his duty seriously and he never seemed like a bad guy. There was definitely something going on, and I had to get to the bottom of it.

"I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation." Snowflake said, shaking her head. "If you just ask him-"

"Yeah!" Kubo cut in, his face set seriously. "We should go ask him. After all, Mesprit's recovery is very important. He better have a good reason for standing us up."

I nodded, pleased with this. "We should go after we finish eating."

Kubo grinned in agreement, which made me feel a bit less uneasy. Surely this was just a little misunderstanding...

The five of us sat in a small little circle on the floor, with Mesprit perched on Snowflakes bed. She seemed to hold herself tall, appearing to all the world like she was perfectly healthy. But I could see how slowly she was eating, and how it took a lot of concentration for her to peer around at the rest of us. I frowned sadly. She wouldn't need to mask her pain in indifference if she had gotten her tea...

Sakura shifted slightly as she swallowed her last bite of food. She peered up at me silently, almost as if asking to speak. I tilted my head at her questioningly.

"Moss... do you think... there's any way Mesprit could help us?" She asked tentatively. "Y'know... with everything?" Mesprit lifted her head suddenly, surprised by the question. But then, wordlessly she too turned her gaze to me. Had the two discussed this question before?

I opened my mouth to speak, but before I could say anything Snowflake placed a paw over my hand to stop me. I blinked at her in as she spoke. "What she should be doing is resting." Snowflake had a stern look in her eye. "She's deeply injured."

Mesprit's expression shifted into a blank look of condescension. It made me think of Serperior, and such a thought did nothing but worry me. "I'm fine," Mesprit said, her chin held high, "I am perfectly capable of coming with-"

"No, you're not." Snowflake cut in sternly. Mesprit blinked in shock, her eyes wide, clearly surprised at having a regular pokemon talk to her in such a way. The silence that followed was tense and uncomfortable. Kubo's eyes darted between the two anxiously, unsure of whether to interrupt or not. Sakura simply eyed Mesprit with concern.

"I know you don't want to hear it, but you're hurt. You can try and hide it all you want, but you can barely even move!" Snowflake said, her eyes unblinking as she frowned at the legendary.

An angry glare crossed over Mesprit's face again. "I can move!" She insisted. She shifted on the bed, pressing her good arm into the hay in order to push herself onto her feet.

Alarm flashed in Snowflakes eyes. "W-wait-!"

"Agh!" Mesprit gasped, biting her lip as she collapsed back onto the ground. Sakura jumped to her side, gently helping her back into a comfortable position. Painful tears sprouted in Mesprit's eyes. My heart twisted. Hiding pain isn't nearly as easy as hiding emotions.

"I'm sorry," Snowflake said hesitantly, "I didn't mean to..."

"No, it's fine," Mesprit grumbled defeatedly. "You were right."

All of us were silent. I wasn't quite sure where to go from here. Snowflake seemed like she wanted to say more, but the defeated look in Mesprit's eyes held her tongue.

"Hey, I got an idea!" Kubo hopped to his feet and pointed one hand up above his head. "Mesprit is a psychic-type! Does that mean you can do cool psychic stuff?" he asked, turning to her with excitement in his eyes. Mesprit smiled hesitantly. The eagerness in his eyes made her flush, perhaps feeling a bit modest in the face of his admiration.

"Y-.. yeah," She said softly, "actually, that's a great idea! I could use my telepathy!" She smiled brightly, looking around at all of us expectantly. When she realized that none of us really knew what she was talking about (even Kubo, who's ecstatic "Woohoo!" was dampened a little by his lack of comprehension) she sighed, laughing softly to herself and shaking her head.

"It's, well... I can speak to you wordlessly over great distances, by sending my thoughts to you. Cosmog used a similar power to speak to you using your dreams, Moss." She said, smiling a little at the mention of our shared friend. I, on the other hand, felt a painful hit in my stomach at the mention of her.

Still, the idea of telepathy was a good idea. It was like using a phone in my world- but even cooler. Mesprit would be able to help out without needing to endanger herself. I nodded at her, satisfied with this, and she seemed to brighten up a little in response.

"That's great," Sakura said, smiling encouragingly at the weakened legendary, "this way we can talk to you even though you'll be recovering here! Snowflake has nothing to worry about," She turned to the aforementioned Vulpix, raising a smug eyebrow, "Riiight?"

Snowflake rolled her eyes, but couldn't help the relieved grin that twitched at her lips. "Fine, fine. As long as you stay here, Mesprit."

Mesrit groaned. "Yeah, yeah. You're not my mom!"

Kubo chortled. "Hahaha, you are a mom!"

"Shut up, Kubo." Snowflake growled at him, her face flushing a little.

"There is one problem though," Mesprit said, her playful mood fading a little. The rest of us fell silent. "Telepathy only works one way. I can only send thoughts to you. One of you also needs to have telepathy to be able to send thoughts to me."

I frowned. None of us were psychic-types, so none of us would have the ability... right?

'Hello?' Mesprit's voice said, but I realized with a start that her voice seemed to come from right next to my ears. Mesprit herself was sitting a good ways in front of me, and as I blinked at her I realized I hadn't seen her mouth move. 'Can you hear me?' She asked.

Was this... telepathy? Oh, of course...!

I scrunched up my face and shut my eyes, completely unsure of how I was supposed to respond if I didn't have the ability, but I thought very loudly, 'Yes!'

When I opened my eyes, Mesprit was beaming at me. Snowflake frowned and raised an eyebrow, peering between the two of us in confusion. Sakura jumped, a bright smile on her face. "Does Moss have telepathy?" She asked Mesprit excitedly.

The legendary nodded, "He does," she said.

"I knew humans had cool powers!" Sakura grinned slyly. Kubo laughed, hopping up to me and slapping me on the back. "This is great! Now Mesprit can chat with us whenever!" Snowflake shook her head tiredly, but I could see her fighting a proud smile. I flushed, shying away from Kubo and crossing my arms stubbornly, "I told you, humans don't have any cool powers! I know for a fact that I couldn't use telepathy before!"

"But still, you're the only one who could respond to me," Mesprit said, sitting up taller in bed, "I sent that same message to everyone. You're the only one who responded." I blushed deeper. "Well- I-"

"Don't worry so much about it, Moss." Snowflake said comfortingly. "How about we go speak to Heliolisk now?"

"Oh! Right!" Kubo announced, wrapping an arm around my neck and yanking me into motion. "Aack!" I yelped, stumbling after my overly-enthused friend as he guided me towards the door. The froakie turned to grin at Snowflake, "You coming too, mom?" He asked, a sarcastic grin on his face.

Snowflake flushed angrily. "Don't you dare start calling me that!" She protested, but still she was prompted by his words to follow along behind us. The three of us made out way out of the room, with Kubo's arm still locked rather uncomfortably around my neck.

"I wanna come too!" Sakura said with a dejected frown, racing after us before we could close the door behind us.

"Will Mesprit be okay without anyone to look after her?" Snowflake said, her eyes flickering back to the injured pokemon. Mesprit shook her head. "Don't worry about me!" She called, and I noticed how her raised voice was more noticeably rough and scratchy from her injuries than her usual softer voice. "I'll just let Moss know if I need anything!"

And with that, (and a rather fond smile sent at me) Mesprit waved us goodbye as the four of us made our way out into the guild. Kubo finally let me go once we were making our way down the hallway. I rubbed my throat and glared at him in irritation. He noticed.

"What?" He asked, his eyes wide and innocent. I continued to glare at him. "Oh, come on," Kubo rolled his eyes, grinning in amusement and slinging an arm around my shoulders, "look, it's cool that you can chat with Mesprit like that, but we gotta focus on this whole 'stealing the food' business, aight?"

I nodded, but I felt a bit confused and annoyed by his tone. He had been incredibly terrible at hiding his true feelings; I could tell he had intentionally treated me a bit rougher than he needed to. There was something... a bit more serious hidden behind his jovial behaviour.

Was he... jealous?

-

It didn't take long to find Heliolisk, as we found him standing in the dining hall outside the kitchen, talking rather seriously with Haxorus. Both seemed rather angry, but I could tell that they didn't seem to be arguing or anything. What happened?

Their conversation paused upon our arrival, the two curiously turning to us as we approached. "What's going on?" Sakura asked, tilting her head pursing her lips. Heliolisk cleared his throat. it sounded rough from overuse.

"Someone stole from our water supply again- and they took a good amount of food from the replenished stock that your team brought in." He said, crossing his arms in agitation. "We should've had enough for over a week, but now half of it has up and disappeared! It was all here half an hour ago!"

Haxorus nodded stoically."This is becoming a serious issue, and to make it worse, nobody saw anything."

I frowned, deep in thought. Was Heliolisk just pretending? Did he seriously not know what was going on here?

"With all due respect, sir," I said eyeing Heliolisk suspiciously, "we saw something. Specifically- you."

Kubo nodded, "That's right! You said you'd give Mesprit her tea but it never showed up! What did you do with it?" He accused, not even attempting to hide his outrage at the injustice.

Heliolisk reared his head back at the accusation. "W-what? I did no such thing!" His surprise at the accusation quickly turned to suspicion, though. "Wait- wait a second... You think you saw me, huh..?" He scratched at his chin thoughtfully.

Kubo angrily pressed on, "Yeah! We did! You came to see us in the kitchen, you suggested we make food for Mesprit and then took the tea! Why did you take it!?" He growled, taking a step towards the electric-type. Heliolisk blinked out of his thoughts and eyed him in alarm.

"Wait, Kubo," Snowflake called, stepping in front of him, "I don't think it was him!" She turned to smile apologetically up at Heliolisk, and then turned questioningly to me. "You were thinking the same thing too, right?"

I nodded. Heliolisk cleared his throat again. "I certainly do not remember seeing you in the kitchen. Following Moss' meeting with the Guildmaster, I stayed in her office for a good while, deliberating important plans with her."

Haxorus nodded, "he was. There's no way he could've done something like that. He only just came out of the office a few minutes ago, only to find this whole mess." The dragon-type gestured to the kitchen.

So that explained why he had acted so strange. It hadn't been Heliolisk at all! But then... who was it?

Kubo recoiled shyly, holding his hands behind his back and smiling up apologetically at his superior. "S-sorry, sir," he laughed weakly. Heliolisk sighed, and rubbed at his eyes tiredly. "It's okay, Kubo. At least now we have some sort of idea about what we're up against."

He hummed, frowning down at us. "Whoever it is that's stealing from us, it must be disguising itself as me. After all," he grinned, "I am quite high ranking. Pretending to be me could get you some pretty good accomodations." Upon saying that though, his smug grin fell into a frown. "I can't believe someone would tarnish my image like that!" He snarled, crossing his arms.

"I'm sure we can figure this out," Snowflake said seriously, "we'd be happy to help with investigations, sir." The rest of us nodded seriously, and Kubo especially stood up tall, feeling the need to redeem himself.

Heliolisk grinned down at us fondly. "That'd be very appreciated, thank you," he said with a tired sigh, "the sooner this gets cleared up, the better."

We nodded and with that Heliolisk showed us through the kitchen, informing us about what had been stolen. Sakura and I also slunk around looking for some kind of clue as to the identity of this thief, but we didn't find hide nor hair that could help figure anything out. I supposed this world didn't have certain methods that the human world had to figure these things out; like fingerprint identification, DNA tests and so on, so perhaps a hair sample wouldn't help anyway.

I sat down in one of the tables that lined the dining table, leaning my elbows on the table with a sigh, trying to think of a way to figure this out without human technology. In the background, I could still see Sakura surveying everything, while Snowflake and Kubo spoke with Heliolisk in hushed tones. I watched curiously as a member of the guild I hadn't spoken to before- a Roselia- entered the dining room and walked up to them, joining in the hushed conversation. I wondered what they were discussing.

'Hey Moss, what's up?' I jumped up in my seat, suddenly hearing a familiar voice in my head, one that did not belong to me. 'Hello, Mesprit. How are you holding up?' I asked hesitantly. It was going to take me a bit of time before I got used to feeling her voice in my head. A part of me anxiously worried if she could read all my thoughts.

'I'm fine, of course,' she said, clearly still a bit insulted by the subject of her injuries. 'I'm just bored. What are you doing? Talk to Heliolisk yet?' Her voice was much more energetic than I was used to. Was this what she was usually like, when not tied down by her wounds?

'We did, but it turns out it wasn't him that did it.' I replied.

'What do you mean?' She asked, her voice suddenly much higher pitched with curiosity.

'Well, there's been this whole situation with food going missing in the guild lately. It's been going on since before you got here. Some strange pokemon was apparently pretending to be Heliolisk in order to steal our food. The real Heliolisk has an alibi and everything.' I explained, and even though I knew she couldn't see me, I couldn't help but sit up taller in my seat.

'Hmmm... I see...' She hummed thoughtfully. 'Let me know if you figure anything else out. There's many possible pokemon that thief could be, I could help identify them if you learn more.'

I nodded, but then felt blushed in embarrassment when I remembered she couldn't see me. 'Right. Okay,' I chuckled weakly.

"Moss!" Kubo hopped up to the dining table and slammed his hands on the side across from me. I flinched out of my thoughts and blinked at his owlishly. "W-what?" I stuttered.

"Roselia says she saw the Heliolisk that too Mesprit's tea! He turned a corner and then she saw a bring light from behind it, then when she peaked around the corner to see what happened, he was gone!" Kubo announced seriously, and I gaped at him in surprise. "What could that mean? Can the pokemon turn invisible? Can it transform? Wait- was there a different pokemon in the hallway after Heliolisk disappeared?" I asked incredulously.

Kubo blinked at me, silent for a moment. "One moment," he said, his words clipped and short. He turned sharply and rushed back to Snowflake and Heliolisk, who had continued their conversation with Roselia without him. I shook my head with a sigh.

'What happened?' Mepsrits voice asked. I told her what Kubo had told me, a wry smile on my face the entire while. Mesprit hummed. 'A flash of light usually indicates transformation. Hmmm,' she pondered, 'what kind of pokemon could it be? Oh, if only Uxie were here, he'd know right away...'

I furrowed my brows in confusion. 'Who?'

'Ah- nevermind that. I'll let you know if I think of something,' and with that, I could feel her presence leave my mind. She must've cut the connection, or something. I almost felt like she was embarrassed about something. How odd.

"Okay, so Roselia said she actually saw Haxorus in the hallway after Heliolisk disappeared!" Kubo's voice startled me out of my thoughts again, and I almost fell out of my chair at his sudden appearance. I hadn't even noticed he had approached me again before he spoke, so it took me a moment before I took in what it was he had said.

"So it must've transformed," I concluded, still a bit stunned. Kubo nodded hastily. "Yeah!" He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I've never met a pokemon that can transform before. I wonder what their true form is!" He grinned excitedly at the thought.

I couldn't help but grin wryly in return. "So... what should we-" I paused, distracted by some movement in the corner of my eye. My head jumped to peer over at where I had seen the movement, and Kubo frowned at my strange behaviour. "What's up, dude?" He asked, turning around to peer behind himself, trying to spy what it was I was staring at.

It almost felt as if... someone was watching us.

I peered over at the entrance to the dining room, where I had seen the motion. Something must've come in here, and I'd bet a lot of money that it was our suspect. But, I couldn't help but frown as I let my eyes drift around the room, pouting in confusion, because as far as I could see, there was nowhere to hide in here.

"I think I saw something," I said slowly, my voice low so only Kubo could hear me. Kubo turned around to frown at me, concern flashing in his eyes. "Do you think it's...?" he asked softly. I nodded. I hopped out of my chair and walked around the table towards Snowflake and Heliolisk, who were now alone, as Roselia must've left while I was distracted. Kubo followed closely behind me, looking around frantically, as if afraid of impending attacks.

"Oh, hey Moss. Is something wrong?" Snowflake asked as I approached her, tilting her head with a concerned frown. her eyes flickered over to Kubo, and his obviously paranoid behaviour. "Are you guys okay?" She asked, her eyes jumping between the two of us. I nodded resolutely, pointing towards the door that lead out of the room.

"I saw something come in here, but I don't know where it could possibly be hiding." I said. Heliolisk raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Oh! Well, then this could be our chance to catch the perpetrator! I'll stand outside the dining room in case it tries to escape!" He then immediately turned and hurried to the door, standing guard and looking around with his head held high. Snowflake, Kubo and I all stared at each other blankly.

Well, I supposed it made sense for Heliolisk to have a plan for situations like this, but... I had no idea what we were supposed to do. And evidently, neither did my friends.

"Um, well, we should definitely tell Sakura about this," Snowflake stuttered awkwardly. Kubo and I nodded. The three of us entered the kitchen together, looking around for any sign of suspicious activity. Sakura was half hidden inside a counter, her tiny feet kicking aimlessly behind her and her tail waving energetically. I could hear her grunting with effort. What was she digging around in there for? I doubted the thief would have left any evidence in there.

"Sakura!" Kubo yelped, rushing up to her and grabbing her hind legs, giving her a strong yank to free her from the cupboard. "Waah!" She gasped, falling unceremoniously out and onto Kubo's lap. She shook her head and turned around to glare at him. "What was that for?" She chidded.

Kubo leapt to his feet and laughed awkwardly. "Sorry, it's just... The thief is somewhere in here! I'm just a bit jumpy, ahaha!"

Sakura gaped in surprise. "Really? He's here?" She peered around herself as if she'd be able to see something out of the ordinary. "Nobody's come in here since Moss left. Are you sure?" She asked sceptically, frowning at him.

"well, maybe it didn't come into the kitchen," Snowflake admitted, "but it's somewhere in the dining room, at least."

I stood there silently, pulling myself out of the conversation to look around the kitchen observantly. Distantly I could hear Kubo explaining to Sakura that the mystery pokemon could probably transform, so they had no idea what it would look like. Snowflake supposed that perhaps it was currently a small pokemon, which was why it was hiding so well.

"How can you be so sure that he's even here right now? Or that he hasn't left yet?" Sakura asked curiously, tilting her head.

"Well, Moss said he saw something, so it must be here somewhere." Kubo replied, still occasionally looking around himself suspiciously.

The three continued to converse, now brainstorming about how they were supposed to catch it. I hummed softly to myself. With all the food in here, it was quite likely that the thief could hide easily- and we wouldn't be able to wait it out to force it to appear. It could eat for days if we simply stood guard and waited for it to show itself. So how were we going to force it to come out?

'Hey, Moss?' Mesprit's voice suddenly called out in my mind. I blinked and shook my head, clearing my thoughts. 'Yeah, Mesprit?'

Mesprit cleared her throat, which was strange, since we were speaking mentally. 'Have you caught the thief yet?'

'No,' I huffed in return, still letting my eyes gaze around the room for some sign of movement. 'But we're pretty sure it's somewhere in the kitchen.'

She went silent for a while, and I supposed that she was thinking it over. I peered over at my friends, and found Sakura arguing that there was no way anyone had come in here, she would've seen something. Kubo simply replied that she had just been digging around in a cupboard, and it could've slipped in while she wasn't looking. She huffed and grumbled in annoyance, probably upset at his lack of faith in her. Snowflake simply rolled her eyes and asked that we all just go through all the little places the thief could be hiding. They had to find something. I hummed in approval at that. That seemed like a reasonable place to start.

'Be careful, Moss,' Mesprit finally said, jumping me out of my thoughts. I had almost forgotten she had spoken to me. 'Thanks,' I responded.

Sakura scoffed. "How about you three look around in here? I already looked through everything and found absolutely nothing, so I might as well check the dining room now."

Snowflake nodded appeasingly. "Y-yeah... I suppose that'd be fine. There's not very many places to hide out there though so when you're done you'll come help, right?" The skitty nodded seriously, "yeah, of course."

With that, Sakura left the kitchen and Snowflake and Kubo went to work shifting through each the food stock (that, now that I looked at them, really were more empty than last I was in here...). I decided to help, stepping forward to open a drawer, when a commotion suddenly came from the dining room. It sounded like a yelp from Heliolisk, and I whipped my head around to face the sound.

"Ack!" The electric-type's voice called. "Get back here! Nobody is allowed to leave until the culprit is found!" His voice called again, and I turned to share a quick look with Snowflake. She nodded seriously and the two of us dashed out into the dining room to discover that Sakura was nowhere to be found.

Heliolisk was clearly considering chasing off after whoever had left. I could easily guess who it was. Heliolisk turned to us and pointed down the hallway. "You're skitty friend just shoved by me and ran off! I suspect it's actually the thief in disguise!"

"Right," I said, immediately running off after her. Snowflake hesitated only long enough to call Kubo ot join us, and then she was hot on my tail. I ran down the hallway that lead to the front entrance, entering the huge, high-ceiling room that had awed me that first day. Rushing out the front door, I could see a flash of pink. "Stop right there!" I announced, dashing off after it. Passing through the gate, I couldn't help but notice how Lycanroc was conveniently missing. Wasn't guild security supposed to be heightened right now?!

Leaving the guild, I saw the skitty turn a corner down a pathway that lead down the mountainside. I chased after it, but I was nowhere near close enough to send a pin missile at it, or for Snowflake to use an ice beam to slow it down.

I growled under my breath in frustration. I could only hope it'd get tired before we did.

As we made our way through the beautiful mountain town, I realized that wherever the pokemon was fleeing to, it was an area of town I hadn't seen before. The houses grew less frequent and the few building we did pass were noticeably less emaculate than the ones I was used to. Flowers were less carefully tended, the pathway grew more rough and was clearly less used. I supposed there was a reason we had never been around here before.

Finally, the pokemon imitating Sakura turned a corner and went down a long, straight alley. I grinned. Perfect time to use pin missile..!

My attack slugged it in the back and threw it forwards off its feet with a gasp of pain. It lied there on the ground for a moment, giving us enough time to approach it. Snowflake and Kubo reached it first, and from behind Snowflakes pale form, I could see a flash of light. She gasped, and Kubo took a step back in surprise.

I slowed to a walk, moving closer and craning my neck to see what the pokemon had revealed itself to be. The light faded away, leaving a small, fluffy grey pokemon in its place. Later, Mesprit would tell us that there was no question; it was a Zorua. But in the moment, I had no name to place to its small, angry face.

"You... you-!" He spluttered, and attempted to climb to his feet. Snowflake stopped him, stepping on his tail to keep him grounded. He yelped, and collapsed back onto the rough, dirt pathway. He must be weak to bug-type moves, I thought curiously. I hadn't expected my attack to go over quite this well. He was barely putting up a fight anymore.

"Why are you stealing the guilds' food?" Kubo demanded, crossing his arms seriously. "And where's Sakura?!" I stepped up to his side and joined him in glaring down at the zorua.

He struggled, ignoring Kubo's question, until Snowflake bared her teeth angrily, letting cold, frozen air drift out from between her teeth. It was a warning, but a frightful one, I noted. The zorua paled and settled back down. "I don't need to explain anything to you!" He bit back anyway.

"Would you rather explain it to the Guildmaster?" Kubo asked, raising an eyebrow. The zorua paled even further. "N-no! I..." he grumbled angrily, dropping his head defeatedly, "fine. You're skitty friend is in that cupboard you pulled me out of. I just knocked her out so she wouldn't interfere with my disguise. She's fine."

"And?" Snowflake pushed, tilting her head with a sharp glare on her face, but the threatening icy breath was gone. The zorua sighed shakily. "I don't... get to eat much." He grumbled, flushing in clear humiliation at needing to admit it. "I don't have any family, or friends. I just thought... that the guild would be the least likely to really suffer from me taking some food every now and then."

"But you take so much!" Snowflake said incredulously. "How can that all be for you?"

"I save it!" He barked back, "I only stole from the guild a couple of times anyway..." Kubo guffawed. "As if!"

"I did!" He insisted, baring his teeth defensively. "I don't mean to hurt anyone. I knew the guild could take care of itself. I just..." he trailed off defeatedly.

I hummed softly to myself. Something about him made me feel like he was telling the truth... He didn't seem like a bad pokemon, not really. "If we let you go, will you promise to stop stealing from the guild?" I asked, tilting my head. He seemed a bit surprised at that question, or perhaps he had forgotten I was even there, as he stared at me with wide eyes. "Y-... yeah," he said finally, nodding, "I guess I'll have to figure... something else out then."

"Moss!" Kubo protested, "this guy attacked Sakura! She was already injured too y'know! He preys on the weak!"

"No I don't!" The zorua whined. "She was the only one I could convincingly disguise as! I didn't want to hurt her. I promise I won't steal anymore, from anyone!"

"Then what will you do?" Snowflake asked, slowly shifting her weight off of his tail. He flicked it out from under her paw and stood, collecting himself. "I... I don't know. but I've got enough food to last until I figure that out." He couldn't make eye contact with any of us now, his eyes were on the ground as he spoke.

"You could come be an explorer, like us?" I suggested lightly. Kubo gasped dramatically at me. The zorua snorted in amusement. "If you think I'll ever willingly face the Guildmaster after all I've stolen, you're an idiot." I shrugged casually at that, making his amusement fade a little. "I'm getting out of here," he said softly, and even though it was said like a statement, I could tell it was more like an ask for permission.

Snowflake scowled. "Fine, get out of here," she growled, and he didn't need to be told twice; he immediately turned around and scampered away down the alley. Snowflake glared him as he left, clearly wondering whether she should ice beam him in the back or not. I placed a paw in her shoulder and shook my head. She frowned. "Are you sure, Moss? I don't know if this is a good idea."

"Yeah!" Kubo huffed, pouting angrily as the zorua turned a corner and disappeared from sight. "We shoulda at least roughed him up for hurting Sakura, and- and for stealing Mesprit's tea!" He announced, crossing his arms. I rolled my eyes. "There's more important things here than tea, Kubo."

-

I was feeling pretty good about myself, with letting the zorua go. Snowflake and Kubo definitely did not see things my way, and they grumbled to themselves a bit as we made our way back to the kitchen; where we indeed found Sakura knocked out. Heliolisk had already found her, and was just finishing looking her over when we came in.

"Is she okay?" Snowflake asked, running up to the electric-types side worriedly. "Yes, she looks fine," Heliolisk said, peering down at Sakura with a concerned frown on his face, "we should bring her back to your room until she wakes up." We all nodded, and Heliolisk carried her, walking a bit slower than usual to make sure not to disturb her. I couldn't help but grin to myself. He was just as concerned about Sakura as he was with Mesprit yesterday. I felt relieved to know it was the real him this time.

Mesprit welcomed us back as energetically as she could, which evidently wasn't very much. She seemed about ready to fall asleep. Sakura was laid down gently on my bed, and I stared down at her thoughtfully. She had already needed a few bandages, and it hurt to see her wrapped up in a few more. Snowflake seemed deeply bothered by the sight, and Kubo huffed grumpily to himself.

I did the right thing, letting him go. Right? He was just doing what he could to take care of himself. He seemed pretty young, and with an ability like that, stealing seemed like a pretty easy vice to fall into. Still...

Sakura suddenly started breathing deeper, and after a moment she had awoken, lifting her head and peering up at us. "Did we get the thief?" She asked cluelessly, an innocent look on her face. I grinned down at her. Yeah, she'd be fine- if a but miffed that she didn't help us catch him.

I shrugged, "kinda?"


	10. Chapter 10

A cold chill came over me, and I shivered, awakened from my comfortable sleep and blinking my eyes open groggily. Why was it so cold..?

I lifted my head and peered over at Snowflake who slept at my side, but she wasn't what was making me feel so cold. It was still the middle of the night, and everyone else was still sleeping. The chill came again and I realized it was wind, coming from the open window. I frowned, confused. Who would've opened it? I climbed to my feet and stumbled over to it, intent on closing it and quickly returning to bed.

As I raised my paws to reach for the window, something suddenly jumped into my vision and I flinched away. Despite the punitive light cast my the moon, I could see the figure of the creature surprisingly easy. It was like it was glowly slightly as it climbed its way through the window and slunk down past me into the room. I gaped at it, so shocked that I found myself frozen in place.

It seemed almost transparent, and it moved like thin fabric being billowed by the wind. Cold air wisped through the room in its wake, flowing over me and chilling me to the bone. It exuded a strange energy, one that seemed to shake the air around me as it made its way towards Mesprit, who was still sleeping curled up on Snowflakes bed. "Ah- wait-!" I gasped weakly.

At the sound of my voice the strange figure suddenly turned around with a cry of surprise. It blinked at me with barely discernible eyes, and in the next moment it phased out of existence. My eyes were wide. In that last moment, it almost looked like... Mesprit? But how was that possible...

I looked around the room. Silence descended upon the room, nothing besides the soft breaths of my friends and the gentle breeze outside the open window. That was... strange. Had I just hallucinated that? I thought I was past having hallucinations at the point, but what in the world could that have been? A spirit? Did those exist in this world? I supposed I wouldn't be surprised at this point.

'I'm sorry if I scared you,' a soft voice suddenly spoke up from inside my mind. I jumped with a yelp and looked back at Mesprit to see she had somehow sat up without my noticing, staring at me with those piercing amber eyes, trying not to laugh at my reaction. 'I have the ability to send my spirit out of my body. I had to check on my home, to make sure it was still safe.' She explained simply.

'Huh,' I thought back, walking up to her and sitting down next to the bed, smiling across at her, 'that's... cool. I'm still not used to talking with telepathy, though, it's just really weird.' She giggled softly into the back of her hand.

'But it will keep us from awaking your friends.' she raised her hand away from her mouth to pat me on the head. 'You'll get used to talking this way in no time!' I shrugged my head away from her hand and huffed jokingly, crossing my arms. I may look like one now, but I'm no pet.

We sat quietly together for a moment. Mesprit's strange spirit power made me want to ask more about it, or her, or something. This was all too weird to just drop it and go back to sleep. I pondered what to say. 'Do you have... a family? You were all alone at that castle, how did you end up there?'

Mesprit peered sadly at me, and for a moment I was afraid that I upset her. But then I realized she was actually looking quite... sympathetic. She was pitying me? But why... then I felt a harsh twist in my heart. I didn't remember my family, if I even had one.

Did they miss me? Would I ever be able to go back? Did I... even want to go back? I had made friends here, friends that I could remember, friends that made me feel safe, made me brave... they were my family now, weren't they? So why did my chest hurt so much?

Mesprit looked away, frowning to herself. She must've known what I was thinking, as she answered my question softly. 'I do have a family- two siblings. We were triplets, and we always used to be together...' she shook her head, 'but then we got our missions, as guardians. Nowadays, we don't get to see each other very often.' She sighed, crossing her arms weakly. Tears suddenly sprung up in her eyes, 'I really miss them sometimes... We can still talk with telepathy but its not the same.'

I nodded gently, reaching out and putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. I felt bad for asking her about this, I had no idea how to make her feel better. 'Don't worry,' I said awkwardly, 'I'm sure you'll see them again.' I felt kind of stupid, but at my words she peered back at me and wiped at her eyes, a soft smile drifting onto her face. "Thanks," she mumbled- out loud- and I chuckled softly in surprise. I removed my hand and she recollected herself, a little amused, or perhaps embarrassed, by her emotional reaction.

'I'd like to ask more about them. Is that okay?' I asked cautiously. She nodded, so I continued with a bit more confidence. 'What are they like?'

Mesprit smiled again, losing herself in her memories for a moment. "Hmm..." she hummed aloud, 'Uxie is the smart one of the three of us, hee-hee!' she giggled, 'He's kinda shy- and he doesn't like fighting. That is, unless you tick him off!' Mesprit giggled again, clearly remembering some times where she must've intentionally riled him up. I grinned a little to myself.

'Then there's Azelf. He's the opposite of Uxie, he always acts before thinking. It leads to some misunderstandings, and he gets himself into trouble sometimes.' she hummed thoughtfully, 'he's really protective of the things he cares about though. He takes his job as guardian very seriously- maybe a little too seriously. He's really friendly and sweet when you get to know him.'

She then peered at me thoughtfully, before a sly grin twitched at her lips, 'I think the two of you would get along.'

I blinked in surprise, and huffed, unsure if that was supposed to be a compliment or not. 'Hey!' I frowned playfully. She giggled into the back of her hand. 'Anyway, enough about me, what about you? let's talk about your friends!'

I blinked in surprise. Was she really interested? I fiddled with my hands nervously. 'Well... I don't know what I could tell you.'

'You've all been so kind to me. You and your friends are such amazing pokemon. I'm glad you all found me when I was hurt.' Mesprit said, a bright genuine smile on her face. I flushed in embarrassment, but attempted to smile shyly. 'I'm glad we found you, too...'

Mesprit giggled mischievously at my shyness. I huffed, she probably just liked making me embarrassed. 'Kubo is especially nice, don't you think?' Mesprit asked with a conspiratory grin.

I blinked, and nodded, my confusion at his behaviour coming back to me. 'I don't understand why he's so determined to impress you. What's up with him, do you think? Is he sick?'

Mesprit laughed, 'more like love-sick! He's clearly infatuated, I can feel that his emotions get all confused when he's around me. I don't think he's ever had a crush before so he doesn't know how to deal with it. Honestly it's kind of cute,' she scratched at the back of her head and averted her eyes, 'I never thought anyone could like me that way.' I frowned thoughtfully at that, and she sighed, flushing a little as she stared at the ground, unable to return my gaze. 'I wish he'd just act normal around me though. All his bravado is cute and all but... I wanna know what he's really like.'

I hummed, wondering what to say. I hadn't realized that that's what had been ailing Kubo. He liked Mesprit? How odd, I never even considered it... She was a legendary, so it never even occurred to me.. Perhaps that's why she never thought anyone could like her. I felt guilty at my own thoughts. 'Hey, Kubo is a great guy. And, uh, he must have great taste, because you're really nice, and- um- pretty.'

Mesprit smiled appreciatively, giggling a little. I hoped she believed me. But then suddenly her grin became mischievous again, and she leaned forwards to poke me on my nose. She winked, 'I think that little Vulpix of yours is a bit prettier in your eyes than I am, am I right?'

I gaped at her. What was she talking about? Snowflake was just... a good friend. Sure, she was beautiful and amazing, but- Wait. What? I scrunched up my face in confusion, my cheeks flushing in embarrassment. Mesprit didn't stop grinning, and only nodded smugly to herself, before leaning back and crossing her arms.

Her ability to sense emotions was so unfair, she could tease everyone so easily. I huffed in disgruntled amusement; Kubo was really gonna be in over his head with this one. He sure knew how to pick 'em.

The next morning I awoke to someone shaking me by my shoulder. I groaned and blinked my eyes open- sorely regretting having such a long chat with Mesprit last night- and looked up to find Kubo standing over me impatiently. "Uhg... What's wrong, dude?" I asked.

"It's time to get up, sleeping beauty!" He stood up tall and crossed his arms, tapping his foot. "We have to go buy medicine again, since last time we did it was stolen," he frowned bitterly for a moment, but shook his head and sighed. "Anyway, Snowflake is already outside. You better keep up!" He said seriously before turning and walking out of the room. I blinked after him, surprised at his lingering grumpiness. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed, I thought with a small grin. Letting that Zorua go clearly still bothered him.

I yawned and climbed out of bed, peering over at Mesprit. She was still sleeping soundly, and I had no intentions of awaking her. I softly crept out of the room and found Kubo leaning on the wall outside the door, waiting for me. Sakura was nowhere to be found, so I assumed she was still asleep in her room. I envied her, how come she got to sleep in? Kubo nodded at me wordlessly as I arrived and we both made our way to the front gates of the guild, finding Snowflake indeed waiting there for us, speaking with Lycanroc.

I blinked in surprise at the sight of her. I had never noticed before, but seeing her standing there in the light of the early sun, her white fur sparkled in the light like freshly fallen snow. I paused for a moment, taken aback by how stunning it looked. It was as if her very fur was made of ice...

Kubo seemed annoyed by my suddenly slower pace and he looped his arm around my elbow and tugged me along after him, breaking me from my trance. I shook my head, blinking owlishly at Snowflake as she turned to greet us. "There you two are," she said, yawning, "Kubo why must we get up so early for this? This is ridiculous." Lycanroc snickered, "I didn't even get the chance to wake you guys, myself! How disappointing!"

Kubo huffed in annoyance, "it's because the Pharmacy closes earlier today, that's why! So let's hurry!" He started forwards, continuing to lug me around after him. I yelped in surprise and Snowflake followed closely behind, shaking her head with a grin. Some things never changed it seemed.

To my surprise, a lot more pokemon were up and about this morning than yesterday. The village had a surprisingly merry atmosphere, with many pokemon spending their time outside in the warm shining sun, talking with each other, play fighting, and playing music. I was intrigued to find some pokemon were even setting up a few small shop stands, turning the area that we passed through into a kind of makeshift marketplace. I hung off Kubo's arm and gaped at all the commotion. I had half a mind to hang around here all day, I could train with the battling pokemon, and I was sure there would be interesting things to buy...

"you think we could find any useful medicine here?" Snowflake asked from behind us, prompting Kubo to turn and scoff at her. "Mesprit deserves only the best!" He said pompously. Snowflake rolled her eyes, "right."

Suddenly, something rammed into my side, throwing me onto Kubo as the two of us collapsed onto the ground. "Oof!" I gasped, holding the back of my head as it pounded painfully. I shook my head a little, trying to steady my spinning vision and see what it was that had bodied me and Kubo to the ground.

"Ah! It's you!" A familiar voice cried out, and I blinked blearily up at the Zorua we had let go yesterday, who was still collapsed over me. He jumped to his feet with a panic in his voice, "please help me!" Kubo jumped to his feet angrily, "you-!" but before he could chew him out, the Zorua quickly scampered to hide behind his back fearfully.

Snowflake helped me to my feet and the three of us looked around for whatever threat the dark-type seemed to be afraid of. What trouble could he have possibly got himself into so quickly?

"Come back here! Thief!" Struggling through the crowd of playful pokemon, a furious Granbull made his way into view. The fairy-type was huge, and he looked pretty tough. I paled.

Snowflake tugged the Zorua to look at her and snarled at him, "seriously?! What makes you think we'll help you when you already broke your promise!"

"I didn't! I swear! Please help me!" He barked fearfully, clearly a bit too panicked to argue. The Granbull then seemed to spot us, and quickly began making his way towards us. "uhm, Snowflake?" Kubo mumbled, a bit afraid himself. I couldn't help but share the sentiment. What if the Granbull thought we were the Zoruas accomplices...

Snowflake sighed tiredly and shook her head, stepping forwards to get the Granbulls attention. He stopped before her and glared down at her. "You know that thief?" he grumbled angrily. The Zorua squeaked at being acknowledged and hid himself behind me instead.

Snowflake bowed her head, "I'm sure we can compensate you for whatever he took-"

"I didn't!" he shouted, suddenly angry, "I didn't do anything to him!"

"Maybe so!" Granbull huffed, crossing his arms and growling under his breath, "but we know your face around here, Hunter- and I'm not going to let you go around stealing from these good-meaning pokemon!" I blinked in surprise. So he didn't steal anything after all...?

Snowflake seemed equally surprised, but collected herself easily. "Well, he's not done anything to you now, and we've been keeping an eye on him. He won't be stealing from anyone anymore." I was surprised at her lie, but the Granbull seemed to accept it, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Well, as long as he's under control. You better not let him go off on his own again." And with that, he turned and made his way back to the food stand he had been previously operating. Kubo and I both let out a sigh of relief. Snowflake handled that a lot better than either of us would've.

She turned back to frown at Hunter, who had peeked his head out from behind me, looking around to make sure the threat was gone. "You're a real mess you know that?" She started to criticize him, But her words seemed to startle him out of his thoughts and instead of responding, he turned tail and ran off. "Wait!" I yelped after him. Snowflake and I exchanged a quick look, wordlessly agreeing to follow him. We hurried off in pursuit, leaving Kubo blinking after us.

"Guys, wait! What about-! Uhg!" He growled in frustration when he realized we weren't listening, and quickly made off after us.

Instead of running down into the darker parts of the town, we chased Hunter up the mountain and into the lush floral parts of town. I found myself struggling up the hill a bit better this time, but only barely. I could hardly believe he was managing to run for so long. I gasped and stumbled the entire way, but finally Hunter began to tire, and with a final burst of energy, Kubo sped by me and Snowflake and tackled the Zorua to the ground.

"Gah-!" Hunter gasped, face-planting into the ground. He struggled under Kubo's weight, but Kubo kept him pinned to the ground. Snowflake and I stopped behind them, and I leaned over onto my knees, panting in exhaustion. "What's your angle, thief!?" Kubo interrogated him, but I zoned the others out as I peered around the area. I realized suddenly that we weren't in the village anymore, instead we were in the middle of the forest somewhere. Hunter had been following some dirt path, so I supposed finding the way back would be easy, but...

"I wasn't doing anything wrong! Why did you chase me!?" Hunter gasped, making me zone back into the situation. The Zorua was still struggling to escape from Kubo's grasp. Snowflake sighed heavily to catch her breath, "if you were doing nothing wrong, why did you run? We helped you!"

Hunter huffed, turning his head around to glare at us, "what, and that means I have to associate with you? I'm not letting you think you can just 'babysit' me!"

"Babysit?" Kubo rasped incredulously, "Snowflake was lying to get you out of that scrape! We don't want anything to do with you!"

Hunter growled viciously, "then why did you chase me!?"

Before any of us could respond, there was a sudden blast from behind me, exploding in a burst of dust and dirt. "Aagh!" I gasped and covered my face with my arms, but I was unable to say much more, because something suddenly bashed into my head. I collapsed bodily onto the ground, out cold.

"Uugghh..." I groaned, blinking my eyes open. My head spun horribly, and for a brief moment I feared that my head injury from before would return- I had finally started to feel healthy again!- but the pain slowly began to fade as I pushed myself up into a sitting position.

"Moss! You're awake!" Snowflake's voice cut through the dizzy haze of my mind, and then I felt something bodily run into me, almost throwing me back on the ground. "Aah!" I gasped, shaking my head and my eyes finally clearing. To my surprise, Snowflake had wrapped her front paws around my neck in an attempt to give me a hug. I blushed in surprise and lifted my shaky arms to hug her back.

"Snowflake... what happened? Where are we...?" I peered around from over her shoulder. We appeared to be trapped within some kind of cage. It was shaped like a large birdcage, but the bars were a thick iron. Through the bars above us, I could see a huge Beast carrying the cage. It seemed to be made of blue metal, with two rocket blasters that propelled us through the air at a frightening speed. We were high above the ground, the horizon stretching far around us.

Across from me and Snowflake, I could see Kubo karate chopping the bars in an attempt to break them, and- to my surprise- Hunter was here as well. Though he was still knocked out, lying on the floor not far from me.

Snowflake pulled away from me with a tired gasp, "we were so foolish- to chase Hunter out of town left us totally defenseless," she shook her head, "I don't know where this thing is taking us- but it can be nowhere good. We still don't know what these monsters want from you..." She bit her lip nervously.

"Doesn't matter!" Kubo shouted, and I jumped in surprise, not realizing that he had been listening in.

Snowflake turned and glared at him. "What do you mean it doesn't matter!?"

"We're going to escape, of course!" Kubo huffed, crossing his arms in an attempt to hide the clear bruises on them. "So it doesn't matter what they want with Moss." Snowflake groaned in irritation, but she decided to drop it. I wasn't sure how we were supposed to escape, we were so high above the ground, but...

My eyes were drawn to Hunter. I couldn't help but pity him for getting tangled up in all of this. We really had messed up good this time. Snowflake helped me struggle to my feet, and I stumbled over to Hunter. I shook him by his shoulder, "hey, Hunter..? You okay?" I asked softly.

He groaned softly and gently blinked his eyes open. For a moment he seemed to not see anything, his eyes staring into nothingness, before he shook his head and peered back up at me. His eyes went wide. "Wh-... what..?" He pushed himself into a sitting position and I sat down beside him. I watched silently as he took in our situation, peering around with wide, confused eyes. "What's going on...?"

"You've heard of all the beasts that have been sighted lately, right?" Snowflake asked softly. Hunter turned to her with sudden panic in his eyes, "You- you don't mean we're- that we-" He leapt to his feet and spun around, frantically looking for a way out. "We're trapped!"

"Duh," Kubo quipped from his place leaning against the bars.

Hunter ignored him. He spun back on me, and I was shocked to find his eyes were suddenly watery as he glared furiously at me. "This is all your fault! If you had never chased after me I wouldn't- I-" He bit his lip, struggling to not burst into tears. I deflated a little, my heart clenching. He was right- had we not followed him, we wouldn't have left town, and...

"Now's not the time to point fingers," Snowflake stepped a little in front of me as if to defend me from Hunter, and glowered at him, "it's in the past now. It happened. What we need to do now is find out how to get out of here."

Hunter bared his teeth, but said nothing. I looked away. What could we do? Perhaps if the four of us attacked one of the bars at the same time, we could do some damage... but we were so high up in the air, there was nowhere we could escape to...

"Can you fly when you transform into flying pokemon?" I suddenly asked, peering up at Hunter. The Zorua pouted at me. "I don't transform- it's just an illusion! I don't get any new powers." I groaned, looking away with a frown. He watched me curiously as I struggled to come up with a plan.

"Hey guys, we're going down!" Kubo spoke up suddenly. I peered up, and then jumped onto my feet upon realizing that he was right. The beast was beginning to descend, it was slowing down too, though I still couldn't see where exactly we were going. If we were getting close to their destination though, there was no way I was going to let us get past the point of no return. We had to escape soon, or else we may not get the chance!

"Okay guys, I know what to do," I said, nodding to my friends. Hunter frowned, but listened in as well. "We're going to attack the cage all on the same spot. Hopefully it'll break, and when the beast brings us low enough to the ground, we all jump out, okay?"

Hunter's eyes went wide with fear, "are you insane!? We're still way too high up-"

"We don't have any other choice!" Kubo snapped at him, a serious look on his face that I wasn't used to seeing. Kubo turned to me and nodded sternly. "We're gonna get out of here," he said, breaking into a confident smirk. I grinned back. There's the Kubo I knew.

"Alright everyone, get ready to attack!" Snowflake announced, pointing towards the side of the cage. We all arranged ourselves in a semi-circle around the intended point, me and Snowflake in the center with Kubo at my side and Hunter at hers. On the count of three, the four of us attacked; shadow ball, ice beam, pin missile, and water gun. The moves busted one of the bars, with a loud steel crash.

When the smoke cleared, I blinked over to find one that the gap we had broken off would be just enough space for us to squeeze through. The beasts seemed not to notice our struggle and continued to descend into a deep, lush forest. "Now's our chance," I gasped as we lowered far enough to be flying amongst the trees. All we had to do was jump and grab hold of some branches...

We all clambered out together, with Hunter the most hasty to leave, so he leapt out first. I needed to grab a hold of his tail to not have him leave the rest of us behind, and the four of us all leapt into the trees together, my hand gripping Kubo's tightly as he held onto Snowflakes paw. The landing was rough and I was sure to have a few splinters, but we were free.

"Yes! We made it!" Hunter gasped with relief. I peered around for the beast, and saw it flying off in the same direction. It was still just as huge as ever, and it was slowing down even more, so following it would be easy. "Let's get out of here!" Hunter's frantic words made me blink out of my thoughts.

"We can't just leave! We should follow it!" I announced, which only made Hunter gape at me.

"Are you insane?! We just got kidnapped by that thing. We should be running away!" He moved as if to start leaving, but Snowflake raised a paw for him to stop.

"Wait, Moss has a point. We're free now, but we also have a good lead as to what the beasts want with us. We could just take a look around and see what's up." She smiled softly at me. I hesitantly smiled back.

"Well I don't want no part in it!" Hunter huffed, puffing out his cheeks. Kubo snickered at him, "Well have fun finding your way back home without us. We're an exploration team, so we're the only ones who can help you get back." Hunter's face flushed at that, and Kubo grinned, crossing his arms behind his head. "So you'll have to stick with us, no matter the... detours."

"Fine," Hunter grumbled, "but I hate you guys so much."

"Duly noted," Kubo hummed, standing up on the branches and grinning at him. "Now lets go."

As we followed the smoke trail left by the beast, I found that I could feel some sort of strange, unfamiliar energy growing stronger and stronger. It seemed we were growing closer to something... important.

We came to a hill, which rose up and up towards some strange ruins. It seemed to have been torn apart, almost as viciously as the castle we had found Mesprit in. It wasn't a castle this time though, more like a shrine of some kind. It was overgrown with ivy and bushes, and even through all the destruction I could see intricate details carved into the stone walls. The strange energy seemed to be pouring out of the ruins, more intense here than anywhere else.

"This place is creepy," Hunter mumbled from behind me.

"Is this where the beast was taking us?" Kubo asked, his eyes wide and curious. I peered at him and saw no fear in his eyes. He was purely enthralled by the mystic beauty of the place.

I nodded, "I can't see why it wouldn't be. Do you think we can go inside?"

"Of course!" Kubo waved a hand carelessly, and began climbing the steps to reach the door, which seemed to have been blown open. We all followed after him cautiously, peering around for any sign of the beast. If this truly was its destination, then where was it? Where had it disappeared to...?

we entered a huge hall, which would have had huge towering ceilings had they not been crushed into. Large sculpted boulders had crumbled to the floor and clambering over them was difficult. most importantly though, was the large shimmering blue vortex which swirled from the far back of the room, illuminating the area with a harsh light and filling the area with a powerful energy. There were some strange runes written on the walls around it, but I had no idea what they could say.

"Woah... what in the world is that...?" Snowflake breathed, blinking in awe at the strange vortex.

We all slowly crept closer to it, until I noticed something strange lying on the ground in front of it. It was a stone statue, collapsed on its back with its arms held out wide to its sides as if trying to protect something. It had a huge mohawk on its head and strange armour-like shells attached to its arms. It's face was set in fearless determination. I tilted my head at it. something about it was... spooky.

"Guys, this place is giving me the creeps. I think we've seen enough, right? We can go home now?" Hunter stuttered from somewhere behind me. I was too focused on the strange statue to hear Kubo's response, but his voice was still as light and humorous as always.

'Moss? Where have you been?' Mesprits voice suddenly spoke up in my mind and I jumped up violently with a gasp.

"What's wrong, Moss?" Snowflake called over to me. I took a deep breath and grinned at her, waving it off.

'Sakura and I have been waiting for you to return from your shopping trip for hours. Is everything okay?' Mesprit continued, her voice laced with worry. I sat down on some rubble and continued to peer down at the strange statue. It was completely unharmed, not a single notch in its pristine carving...

'We're alright, we just... got caught up in something.' I responded hesitantly. 'Mesprit... do you know what a big blue vortex means?'

Mesprit paused. 'What... where are you right now?' Her voice sounded a little frightened, which did nothing but put me more on edge.

'We got kidnapped by a beast, but we escaped and followed it in secret. It lead us to this strange ruin with a glowing vortex in it.' I said, which only made Mesprit let out an anxious gasp.

'Where's the Tapu? Is there a pokemon there? The portal should have a guardian...'

I blinked, my eyes going wide as I peered back down at the statue. Could that be... 'Does this "Tapu" have a mohawk and weird shells on its claw hands?' I asked.

'Yes, that's Tapu Koko! Is he there? Is he okay?' Mesprit sounded almost frantic now, which made me hastily respond.

'Well, either he's not here- and this is just a statue- or... he's been turned to stone?' Following my words came nothing but silence for a long moment, and I couldn't help but rub my arms nervously and look around.

My friends were all still searching around the place, I had no idea what they were looking for but they seemed to be leaving this statue and the strange portal to me. Hunter was sitting near the exit, his tail twitching nervously as he watched my friends dig through the rubble. It occurred to me that perhaps they were searching for injured pokemon, in case someone was hurt like Mesprit was. Perhaps this 'Tapu Koko' was buried somewhere...

I turned and peered back down at the statue, with its perfectly clean condition and its intricate details. My stomach twisted. There was something painfully lifelike about it, and I couldn't stop the feeling that he had indeed, somehow... been turned to stone.

'Moss, listen...' Mesprit suddenly spoke up in my mind again, 'I don't know how they could turn him to stone, but... that must be what happened. The four Tapu's guard special portals, which connect our world to another- that must be where the beasts came from. And it's likely... where they took Cosmog.'

I felt my mouth slowly drop open as she spoke. So... my friend, she was...

I peered up into the portal, watching as it swirled and shimmered brilliantly. It seemed even more ominous to me now. Cosmog was in there. They had taken her to another world.. they were from another dimension perhaps, just like me. They had wanted to take me there as well, and as far as we knew, there was no way back.

I clenched my fists, and stood up from the ground. 'Tell Sakura what's happening, she'll need to explain everything to the guild. I don't know when we'll be back, but... We'll be fine, I promise.' Mesprit hastily agreed, but I wasn't really listening anymore. Cosmog... We were going to save her if it's the last thing I do!

I turned to my friends, and they peered up at me, seeing the fire in my eyes. Snowflake smiled softly, and Kubo grinned. They didn't know my plan, and yet they were still willing to support me through anything, and it made my heart clench with joy. They really were the best...

Hunter wilted fearfully, "we're not gonna go home now, are we?"

Kubo answered for me with a tired, yet smug grin. "Nope."


	11. Chapter 11

I turned to look at my friends. It didn't take long to explain the situation to them, about Tapu Koko and what this strange vortex must mean. Kubo and Snowflake were equally determined, and I could tell they were prepared to do whatever it took to help me save my friend. Hunter, on the otherhand, only grew more and more apprehensive as my explanation went on.

"We're really going to fight some monsters? Just like that giant one that kidnapped us? There's no way!" He snapped at me fearfully. I reached out my paws to him placatingly.

"It's okay- we'll be sneaky... If things go well, we won't end up fighting anything." I said, but Hunter bit back harshly.

"Yeah? If things go well? What if we get caught? What'll we do!" He snarled, but despite his angry expression, I could tell he was more frightened than anything else.

"Then we'll run back through the portal!" Kubo chimed in, wrapping an arm around Hunters neck casually. "We can handle anything, because we'll do it together!"

"That's right," Snowflake nodded, "you have us to protect you, Hunter..."

Hunter sighed and his ears drooped... he didn't seem convinced, but he didn't seem inclined to fight anymore. At the very least, he was confident enough that we'd stay true to our word and try to protect him.

I nodded resolutely. "Okay. I'll count to three, and we'll jump into the vortex together." The four of us stepped up to each other and I grabbed Snowflakes shoulder. Kubo grabbed her other shoulder and kept up his firm grip around Hunter. "Make sure not to let go of each other until the end. Does everyone understand?" I asked seriously.

Everyone had the same determined face like mine, except Hunter, who was really frightened. Honestly, I didn't wanted to force him to come with us, but we were going into a different world, and the more help we could get, the better. "One," I started counting. We all tensed and gripped each other tighter. "Two," I kept my eyes solidly on the vortex. "Three!" and with that, we jumped into the portal. Hunter dragged behind slightly, but Kubo held fast and pulled him with us.

There was a bright flash of light, and I cringed and shut my eyes. Everything happened so fast that we didn't feel anything. One jump, and we were already there. We landed solidly on the ground as if we had simply jumped into the air, and yet I still managed to stumble and lost my grip on Snowflake, barely keeping myself from falling to my knees.

I heard a soft, awed gasp from Hunter. I looked back at my friends and saw them all gaping up at our surroundings, and when I too saw what this place looked like, I too gasped in shock. The first thing I noticed was it looked like a dark cave with several colorful diamonds poking out of the walls. They were polished and smooth, twinkling brilliantly in the small beams of light that pried through the tiny cracks in the ceiling. A long dark stone path rolled out under us, that must've lead somewhere...

So this... was Ultra Space?

The second thing I noticed was that this place wasn't empty. Lots of unknown creatures floated around everywhere. They looked like jellyfish with hats and tentacles, but nothing more. In the middle of their bodies was a big hole, instead of where you'd expect a head and face to be- if it was human. They floated around absently, but with purpose... It was as if they were looking for something... something that they didn't have.

A body.

I shivered, and ushered my friends to stay together. "Come on, we need to get through this place quickly..." I turned to Snowflake and reached out my hand, "come on, we don't want to get separated."

"We dont want to be seen, either," Snowflake frowned, "we should be careful, and hid behind any rocks we can find... those things are creepy and I'm certain they're dangerous."

"You're right... Okay, c'mon let's go." I grabbed Snowflake and dragged her into the shaded darkness that ran along the walls. She moved past me to lead the way, waving a tail to invite me to grab ahold of it. I did, and we sidled along the walls as quickly as we could. I could hear Hunter softly whimpering, and for a moment I dared to look back and see what was going on. His eyes were wide and fearful as he gazed up at the beasts, and the only thing keeping him from losing his cool was the sturdy, secure hand of Kubo's that rested around his shoulders. I felt sorry for Hunter.

This place was really creepy, but pretty at the same time. Still, it was hard to appreciate the beauty of it with those creepy bodyless things floating about...

As we walked, we entered a large room with a ceiling as high as a cathedral's. Snowflake suddenly stopped us, which made us bump into each other. I blinked and looked up at what had made her pause, and I froze. "What was this for?" Kubo hissed angrily, when he suddenly realized what it was that had us so stunned upon following our gazes.

Up high above our heads, many of the strange jellyfish beasts were lazily drawing around something, as if somewhat draw to it. They let out small, high-pitched murmurings, but try as I might, I couldn't make out any words. They all seemed to be whispering urgently. Underneath all their fervent gathering, stood a spire made up of many disjointed crystals. It glittered in the sparce light beautifully.

And in the middle of the room, at the top of the spire, there she was...

My friend.

My heart jolted. My breath stopped for a moment. There she was... and it was no denying it was her. I could tell somehow... it felt like her. She had the same presence as in my dream...

Cosmog was admittedly smaller than I expected. Situated between two crystals, she seemed to be suspended there withing some kind of forcefield. She was small, round, and rather cute. She had a young face, that was twisted up in pain as the crystals did something to her. It was almost as if it was sapping her energy... I wasn't exactly sure, but it didn't matter anyway. She was in trouble, and needed us.

I looked back to my friends, "how are we supposed to rescue her?" I asked with an urgent whisper.

Kubo broke the silence first. "I suggest we set a trap," he said seriously, "we need to get the beasts out of the way, so we can break the cage on Cosmog."

"Sound good to me... but what we can do to distract those things?" Snowflake asked, as we looked back up at those things worriedly. "There's so many... and I don't know if we could take them..."

Yeah... what were suppose to do to get rid of them?

"Umm... maybe I can use my illusions to cover us against them?" Someone asked from behind us, and all of us jumped to look for the source. Hunter, while still cowering fearfully behind us, had finally managed to collect himself enough to help think of a plan. I almost hit myself in the forehead in realizing how simple his idea was. Duh, of course! His power could hide us from everyone, so they wouldn't know we were approaching to attack!

I jumped up to him and grapped his face with my hands. "That's it! With your illusions, we could save Cosmog without alerting any defenses, and we would be protected from those flying beasts too!"

Both Snowflake and Kubo nodded with confident grins forming on their faces. "Alright, let's do that," Kubo said.

Hunter blinked at me with wide, shocked eyes. "But... I'll only do it if I can stay here. Please..." He begged softly, wilting in my hands. I stared at him seriously for a moment. We looked into each other's eyes and silently nodded. We both knew he wasn't ready for a fight yet. Hunter smiled timidly at me and pulled away from my grasp, before turning and hiding deeper into the rocks and shadows.

"Okay- Kubo, you go to the left," I pointed along the wall where he would hide. "Snowflake you should go to the right," I pointed to my right and Snowflake nodded seriously. "I'll take the middle."

"Wait- but there's no cover, what if they spot you?" Snowflake frowned worriedly, "you'll be out there on your own..."

"Hey, come on, I'll be fine," I turned to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Hunter will shield me from view, and I need to be the one to get to Cosmog, while you two cover me!"

"I dunno Moss... do you really think Hunter can do it?" Kubo rubbed his arms nervously. I turned and looked back at Hunters hiding place, he was a bit too far to hear our soft murmurings, but he blinked and raised his head upon noticing my gaze. He looked afraid, but ready.

I nodded at him. He nodded back and put on a brave face. I turned to my friends, "Yeah, I know he can do it. Now let's go!"

They nodded and we split up, starting to move behind the rocks along our separate paths. Seeing our movements, Hunter activated his illusions to hide us. As far as the beasts could tell, we would be invisible. Since they didn't have eyes, however, I could only hope it made us invisible to whatever other senses they'd be using too.

I drew closer, and I thought the beasts could sense something, as they started to shiver and wail. I froze and held my breath. But their focus remained on Cosmog, so I sighed in relief, realizing they didn't notice anything. This made things much easier... Hunters illusion was working.

I watched closely as Kubo and Snowflake drew near to the tower. The beasts were close over their heads. I took that as a sign to move towards the crystals. I ran up and placed my paws upon the cold rocky surface. It'd be a bit rough to climb, but I would try. Still, there was no way I'd get through there undetected even with the illusion in place- there were just too many beasts. So I gave the signal, and Kubo hit one of beasts in the head with a water gun.

It was an odd beast, the only one in the room that didn't resemble a jellyfish. It looked almost like a giant clown, but with a ball for a head. I had seen its type before. The beast became mad, and started run towards the direction Kubo's attach had come from throwing it's heads everywhere in hopes of hitting him. Huge explosions wracked through the area. Chaos ensued.

That was my cue to climb.

To my right, Snowflakes attack came next. She used an ice beam to a small awarm of the jellyfish beasts who had seemingly ignored the rampage, and upon being hit they screeched loudly and finally moved, going off in Snowflakes direction and blindly shooting off power gems. My friends had given me a free path to the top. I climbed as quickly as I could, hoping to make sure my friends didn't need to distract the beasts for too long...

I had to work fast. I reached the top and blinked up into the tiny little face of my friend. Cosmog was unconscious, and she seemed ot be in pain... "Don't worry, Cosmog, I'll get you out of there..!" I murmured softly to her, but I wondered if she'd even be able to see me if she was awake, thanks to Hunters illusions...

I shook my head. That wasnt important. I tried to break the crystals that were holding her in place, but I couldn't. I wasn't strong enough...

Then I suddenly got an idea. I wasn't strong enough... but they were. I climbed down a small ways and turned, grinning as I saw the clown beast still rampaging, it was throwing explosions wildly now, unsure of where the attacker was. Both Snowflake and Kubo were keeping it confused with their attacks. But now I was going to add to it- I used pin missile and it, and it screeched angrily, turning towards the tower. I jumped down quickly as it grabbed its head and threw it at me.

With a large BOOOMM! the crystals above my head shattered into pieces, and my friend- my friend was suddenly falling! I gasped, and against my better judgement I leapt off to catch her. I reached out and grabbed her, wrapping my arms around her tiny whispy body, but then instead of landing bodily on the ground, I landed on one of the jellyfish beasts.

I bounced off of it and landed quite softly onto the ground. I jolted up to find Cosmog sitting peacefully in my lap. I let out an exhausted sigh of relief. I was so happy... I had finally saved my friend... I blinked up to look around at what had happened.

The tower of crystals was completely demolished, jagged pieces pointing out every which way, and a strange electric pulse zapped around at the top. It wasn't going to be holding any more cosmogs hostage that was for sure. I hugged my friend to myself gently... she would be okay now.

"Moss, watch out!" Someone cried from behind me, and suddenly a dark pulse shot out above my head. I gasped and spun around, watching as the beast I had bounced off of landed unconscious on the ground. I looked up and saw.. Hunter. He stood tall on the rock he had been supposed to be hiding behind. "It was trying to grab you!" He shouted at me, "from touching it... your illusion has worn off!"

Oh. Well, that wasn't good.

I leapt to my feet, Cosmog hugged to my chest, and began stumbling towards him. I ran up to him and urgently insisted we get out of here as quickly as possible. "I have Cosmog, let's go!"

"They're weak to water," Hunter said seriously, and I blinked at him. He nodded, "I was watching! Kubo's attacks do more damage to them than Snowflakes..." His confidence slowly melted away as he spoke, and he ducked his head with a small smile, "so... Kubo should back us."

"Sounds good to me," I said tiredly, and gave him a thumbs up before running back out of the room, my friends close behind me. We all ran towards the portal. The beasts were close behind us, attacking from all directions. Kubo and Snowflake tried to reflect their moves, but upon looking back I could tell they were getting worn out. This couldn't go on and we weren't strong enough to take out all of them.

Finally we reached the portal, but as we drew near, I paled- it was hovering high above out heads. It was too high up to cross through it. 'W-was it always that so high up?" Snowflake gasped, running up to my side and panting in exhaustion.

We were stuck here...

I almost collapsed. My legs threatened to give out under me, and the only reason they didn't was the small, unconscious pokemon in my hands. I had to protect her... But everything had been going so well. We had Cosmog, we had saved her... we survived the battle- we had just narrowly escaped, but...

In the end... was there really no way out?

"What are we supposed to do now!" Hunter barked, "is this the end..? Did you bring me here just to get me killed?" He glared at me, but the effect was weakened by how glassy his eyes were. I moved my mouth in an attempt to respond, but I couldn't make any sound.

"There was no way any of us would know this would happen!" Kubo snapped at Hunter angrily, stepping between him and me. Hunter reared back and sniffled miserably, but the glare remained on his face.

"Well it did! And we're doomed!" He sobbed, "I should've known!"

"You don't know that! We're not dead yet!" Kubo growled, and stomped his foot, but there were already beasts crowding around us, screeching and growling animalistically...

All I could do was look down at my friend. "I'm sorry that I- no... that we couldn't say you again.."I murmured. I looked up at Snowflake, and saw her frowning at me tearfully... I could feel my own tears sting at the back of my eyes.

But then, a yellow light came from Cosmog, and I blinked back down at her. She opened her glowy yellow eyes and looked up at me. "You're... awake..!" I gasped softly. She then peered at all the beasts crowding around us. She took a deep breath and then began floating up into the air. My friends and I- and all the beasts- were sudenly silent... watching her in awe as she slowly began to glow.

There was a suddenly bright flash of light and I gasped, shutting my eyes. When I opened them again.. we weren't in the Ultra Space anymore.

We were in our world. I turned and saw the bright blue portal still shimmering behind me. All my friends were here with me too- Snowflake blinked around in confusion; Kubo glared in alarm; and Hunter hesitantly uncurled from the fearful ball he had rolled up into. None of us had any idea what had happened...

"Ah! Moss!" A small voice cried out from above us and I jumped and looked up- Cosmog was still hovering above us, and to my alarm, she was still glowing. In fact... she was glowing even brighter. "I know you will help me... don't forget, you are worth more than you think you are..."

I teared up again, it was so strange to hear her voice in real life... "I won't!" I called to her, but after that the bright light began to shrink smaller and smaller... then it faded completely. Hovering in Cosmogs place... was a small oval-shaped thing with a sleeping face.

I blinked at her in confusion. What... just happened? I looked around at my friends and they all just shrugged and frowned in confusion. None of us could figure out what had happened. But one thing was sure. My friend was alive, she was with us, we had saved her... Or had she saved us?

And now she had a different body... had she evolved?

"Moss, look!" Kubo said, and we looked back up to see my friend slowly begin to drift over to the statue- to Tapu Koko. she began to glow and then the statue began to glow as well. Miracles of miracles, the stone slowly began to crack. My eyes went wide and I gasped in awe, as the cracks began stretching all across it, until finally it shattered with another flash of light. Hunter yelped at my side and I hid my face behind my arms.

The first thing I heard was the sound of electricity crackling across the rocks. I peered out through my fingers and saw a large, yellow figure.

He had the same shape as the statue, so I knew this had to be Tapu Koko... he was bright yellow and orange, and covered in feathers. He seemed to be laced with energy, and he whipped his head around to glare down at me. I gulped. He loked arond at all my friends, his gaze serous and intense. Then with a loud trilling cry, he zipped up to the portal. He hovered before it, and with a soft swishing sound, he forced the portal closed.

My eyes went wide as I realized what that meant. One down... four to go.

"Guys- we're making progress..!" I gasped and beamed at them. Kubo and Snowflake grinned back at me, and Kubo high fived me.

Hunter, however, pouted, "But there's still three left, aren't there..?"

"Yeah, but we should be happy we've closed any of them at all! Our job is done for now... I know we all want to go home now," Snowflake said with a tired smile, "I for one am tired and hurt..." She glared down at her body, usually pure white but now turned brown with dirt.

She was right... "we're in pretty bad shape, huh?" I laughed.

"But hey, we even managed to save Moss' friend!" Kubo said, gesturing up to her as she continued to hover above us. "We should celebrate!" He cheered with a goofy smile. Snowflake and I grinned, looking up at Cosmog. I sighed in relief. My friend slowly began lowering down to the ground, and landed with a gentle tink.

"Is she okay?" Snowflake asked with a frown. I stepped up to her and lifted her up into my arms again. SHe was a bit heavier now, and she seemed to be unconscious again...

"I think she just needs to rest," I said softly, and folded her into my arms. I smiled and rested my chin on her head.

"That's sweet and all- but have you forgotten? We don't know how to get HOME!" Hunter cried. We all jumped in shock and fell quiet. He was right... we had been knocked out- and we were taken so far... we had no idea how to get home.

"Thank you for your help, little ones..." A male voice said from behind us. We turned around to see Tapu Koko himself standing before us. "Without you, I would still be encased in stone- and the portal would still be open, allowing those beasts access to our world." He stretched his arms out and bowed his head graciously. "I am indebted to you... how can I thank you?"

We all stared at him, a bit shellshocked. After everything we had been through today, we still couldn't help but be entranced by his divinity. To have such a powerful, divine creature bowing to us... I hadn't realized we had actually managed to do something so important.

I had just wanted to save my friend, and if it meant I needed to be the one to save the world, then...

I was the first one to speak up. "I-it's nothing.. we're glad to help," I smiled. Kubo stepped up to my side and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"He's right, but... I do have some questions for you-" he paled at his own casual tone- "if you don't mind, that is!"

Tapu Koko let out a sort breath of amusement and bowed his head again, "you may ask all you wish, little one." Tapu Koko said smoothly.

"Right..." Kubo took a deep breath, "well, we kind of know what's happening, but we need more information about it- like this Necrozma guy. And why he wants Cosmog! And who is Cosmog anyway? Can you tell us?" He said quite quickly. His expression was serious, but his urgency was enough to make a small amused smile break onto my face.

Tapu Koko seemed to agree, as he huffed out another small laugh and settled down in front of us. "Yes, I can tell you," he said. We all crowded in front of him. Although Hunter was somewhat sitting behind Snowflake, nervous from being in the guardians presence. "Necrozma is an Ultra Beast himself. He was indeed a very powerful one, one who fed on light. However, something happened to him... I am not sure what it was- but his body fell apart, leaving a ugly dark prism behind. He yearns to be himself again. But he can't do that alone- he needs Cosmog."

Tapu Koko pointed one of his large claw-like hands at my friend as she sat innocently in my lap. "Cosmog's species also come from the Ultra Space," Tapu Koko continued, and I gasped, my eyes wide and locking onto his. He gazed back at me intensely. "However, their purpose is to travel across the many worlds of Ultra Space... and to share their light with whoever shall need it."

"So she's a good Ultra Beast!" Kubo cut in with an excited grin, "that's cool!"

"Kubo..." Snowflake hit him lightly with her tails to get him to shush. He crossed his arms and pouted.

Tapu Koko tilted his head curiously, his expression still totally serious. "Indeed, it is 'cool.' Although they can only share their light in their fully evolved form," his gaze was drawn down to her as she sat in my lap, "this is her second form: Cosmoem."

"I see..." I murmured, looking down at her. So she had evolved after all, and her name was Cosmoem now... I had only just met her and she was already changing... "So, wait," I blinked at Tapu Koko and frowned nervously, "Necrozma wants her to be in her final form then, doesn't he..."

Tapu koko nodded solemnly. I sighed and rested my chin on Cosmoem's head again. This was all such a mess...

"There's something I don't understand, if you don't mind me asking..." Snowflake spoke up softly, "How do you know about all of this, Tapu Koko?" I wasn't sure if that was a polite thing to ask a guardian diety, but he didn't seem to be offended. He cooed softly as he considered his answer.

"Well, little one, this is not the first time our world has had contact with theirs. The other tapu and I have had a relationship with the cosmog species in the past... and we helped each other. Therefore there are very few beings privy to this knowledge." He puffed out his chest confidently and smiled at her, appreciative of her curiousity. He appeared to be quite proud of himself...

Snowflake giggled and turned away shyly at his look. "Really? That's so interesting... have other beasts ever come here?"

"The dangerous beasts have managed to find their way here before," Tapu Koko said with a nod, "but the other tapu's and I fought them back valiantly!"

'Not the most humble creature,' I thought in irritation. I huffed as Snowflakes eyes seemed to shine with fascination.

"Tapu Koko, I have another question," she sat up straight and grinned, "Moss' friend- the Cosmoem- she called him here into this world so he could help her. He's not originally from this world.. or a pokemon. Is there any chance we can defeat Necrozma together?" She asked hopefully.

The tapu looked at me thoughtfully for a long moment. I swallowed anxiously at the intensity of his gaze. But then he looked back to Snowflake with a soft smile. "I believe so, yes..." Snowflake beamed, but before she could speak, he continued, "But how- that is another question. Maybe if I were to discuss it with my siblings- but...' He wilted slightly, a sad look flittering through his eyes. I felt my irritation and anxiety fade. I frowned sympathetically. They were all turned to stone, just like him.

"Don't worry," I said seriously, and he blinked up at me, "We'll save them!"

Kubo and Snowflake both nodded, "Yeah!" and Hunter looked between the rest of us, nervously hoping he wasn't included in that equation.

Tapu Koko grinned and bowed his head. He was thankful of our encouragement and gave a soft, relieved sigh. "Anyway.. you all must get home before nightfall. It's very dangerous to be outside at night, with all those beasts around," he eyed the lot of us closely, "not to mention you'll definitely need your rest, from your injuries."

"Um... that's the thing," Kubo said weakly, "We don't know how to get back to the guild... It's in a small village, on a mountain-"

"Ah... so you are a part of Miss Serperior's guild?" Tapu Koko grinned at us and we gaped at him in suprise. "That explains how you were capable of rescuing Cosmoem-"

"Wait! you know the guildmaster?" Kubo asked incredulously. Tapu Koko nodded.

"Her guild is renowned for the many great heroes and explorers it has produced! And indeed I once had the chance to meet her myself, when she visited me and all my siblings.. Few have managed to find all of us. She is truly a very skilled explorer." Tapu Koko hummed softly for a moment, a bit lost in his thoughts. "She was quite nice, happy to indulge me in a battle..."

He seemed happy to recall the memory.

Wow... even though I knew she was talented, for some reason I never imagined the guildmaster would have such a side to her. Interesting...

"I know right?" Kubo said tactlessly, grinning excitedly. "She's the best! Everyone in my village knows her," he jumped up from his seated position with gusto. "I wish I could see her fight!" I blinked at him. Hunter seemed confused at his energy while Snowflake rolled her eyes lightheartedly at his childish reaction.

"Unfortunately, while she did come to visit me, it was shortly before the creation of her guild... so I am unsure of its location. But!" he jumped up suddenly and we all yelped in surprise, "I know someone who can help you find your way back."

He started to fly out of the ruins, and we all scrambled to our feet in order o race after him. he seemed to be going at a leisurely pace, but for us it was a bit hard to keep up with! As we reached the mouth of the ruins, I could see the sun was already setting past the horizon. The clouds were starting to glow a soft, fiery orange, and sunbeams pried through the trees to dapple across the ground beautifully. But as beautiful as it was.. it filled me with dread.

Tapu Koko hovered before us, and pointing out towards a path that lead into the forest. It already looked as dark as night in there...

"Follow this path, and you will meet him." Tapu Koko said seriously. "But be warned... many pokemon who enter his domain never return, and if they do... they have lost their minds."

"What!? We almost died in that stupid Ultra Space thing and now you want us to walk into more danger!?" Hunter cried angrily. "We can't survive that!" I had to admit, I agreed with Hunter. I would much prefer we take a safer route. Whatever this person was, I doubted it'd be easy to handle him. We were already exhausted...

"I know, little ones... but only he can help you get back. But since it is late, you may stay here with me tonight," he turned back and smiled at us, "Take a rest, for now.. you deserve it."

We nodded hesitantly, tired and a bit sad that there was no other choice. "Thank you for having us, Tapu Koko..." Snowflake said softly, and we all followed in thanking him. He shook his head.

"No need to thank me... I have not had company in a long while, and I am in your debt for saving me."

Within the ruins, Tapu Koko made a small fire, and we all gathered together under a pillar to keep warm together. That night we didn't talk much, besides Snowflake absently asking Tapu Koko questions about his experiences... and Kubo excitedly asking for all the exciting details. Hunter curled up close to me, and I hugged Cosmoem to my chest... I decided I'd let my friends stay up, but me and Hunter were ready to finally get some sleep...

'Moss!'

"Waah!" I jolted up at the suddenly voice, startling Hunter. "What's wrong with you? Getting so jumpy all of a sudden..." he mumbled grumpily and lowered his head again. I looked around for the source of the voice.

'What happened? Are you okay? Could you save Cosmog?' The voice asked, and I realized with a sigh of relief that it was just Mesprit again, speaking to me with telepathy. I could tell she was worried, not just about me, but also about Cosmoem... they had been friends too, hadn't they...

I leaned back against the pillar and shut my eyes again, holding Cosmoem securely. She seemed almost to purr as she slept in my grasp. 'Everything is fine.. nobody got hurt and we have Cosmog here with us- she evolved into a Cosmoem too.' I replied mentally, yawning as I settled back down again. I told Mesprit about Tapu Koko being freed, and the portal being closed... 'for tonight we're staying at the ruins with him, because we're too far away to get home in one night...'

'That's good,' Mesprit said softly, 'Tapu Koko will be good protection for you, since you can't be protected by a repel...'

'There's a lot Tapu Koko told us, but there's something I don't understand...' I said softly, although I was falling more and more asleep as the seconds went on. 'There's someone nearby who can help us return home.. but something tells me he's really dangerous. Tapu Koko said we might lose our minds by going there...'

Mesprit was silent at first, and I wasn't sure what to make of that. I was slowly drifting off, too tired to wonder why she was suddenly so hesitant...

'Sakura and I were worried sick... I'm glad you could rescue Cosmoem, and Tapu Koko... and that all of you are alright. I'll let you get some sleep, you seem tired. I'll talk to you tomorrow.' She said softly. I nodded, even though she couldn't see me.

'Good night...' I murmured, and finally drifted off to sleep.


	12. Chapter 12

Kubo thought it would be a great idea if we all got up and left as quickly as possible, so as to avoid nightfall again. So he woke us up very early in the morning. Needless to say everyone was delighted...

Snowflake grumbled and pouted even as she stood and started packing our things. Hunter curled up into an even tighter ball as Kubo shook his shoulder, "wake up sleepyhead!" "I am awake, leave me alooone..." By the time Kubo got to me I was already resigned to my fate, so I stood up and yawned. Tapu Koko was sitting on the ground watching us, and I wondered if he even needed to sleep. He seemed to have already been awake.

Looking up through the cracks in the ceiling of the ruins, I saw how beautiful the sunrise was. Thinking about what Koko said about Necrozma... I was determined to keep the light of our world safe.

I held Cosmoem close to my chest, a hope surging through me. She was safe, and I'd never let her get hurt.

"What should we do with her?" Snowflake said, walking up to my side and tilting her head with a tired frown. "Cosmog- I mean Cosmoem- she's in a hybernative state... you can't just be carrying her around when we could be in danger.."

"Don't sweat it!" Kubo said, hopping up to my side and taking my bag from me, slinging it over his shoulder. "Put her in here!" He opened the mostly empty bag. I grinned softly, a little amused at the idea. I gently placed her inside, and he shut the bag securely. "There! Now she'll be safe," Kubo put his hands on his hips confidently and then turned to run off.

He turned back and waved as he ran. "Come on guys, let's hurry!" Kubo gestured for us to follow him, making his hasty way out the mouth of the ruins. We sluggishly followed, and drew towards the edge of that path that Tapu Koko pointed out to us.

"Good luck on your journey." Tapu Koko appeared behind us and we jumped to blink at him. He smiled and gave us a little wave. We waved back to him. Snowflake seemed to cheer up a little, abandonding her sluggish exhaustion to smile at him brightly. He noded encouragingly, thanked us again, and we started on our way.

We walked for a short while along the path to the forest. When we arrived, we found that even if the sun was already high in the sky, the forest was still dark. The trees' canopy touched each other, blocking any light that could touch the ground. However, there was still light in some places.. but the light didn't look like sunlight dappling across the grassy floor. So what was that?

"Guys... are we really going in there? Can't we find another way?" Hunter begged. I could tell he was still under the shock what happened in the Ultra Space. I wanted to say something to enourage him, but Kubo spoke over me.

"Don't be such a torchic. I'm sure everything will be okay." He huffed confidently, refusing to be discouraged. "We just need to tell that pokemon that we want to go home, and ask him to show the way. It's simple, not dangerous at all."

Hunter slumped down and looked away. "Yes, but... what if he tries to kill us before we can even ask any questions?" Hunter asked, shaking from the thought.

"It doesn't matter... we have to try it. Righty now, he is the only one who is able to help us. And, well... I have a feeling we won't meet any other pokemon in this area." Snowflake said. She gave Hunter a soft smile, "so the path won't be dangerous."

Hunter didn't seem calmed however, as he only growled and bared his teeth. "Of course there's no pokemon in there!" He barked, "only idiots would ever go in there!" Snowflake blinked in surprise at his agitation, but I could see tears shimmering on the corners of his eyes. I could tell he knew we were right, that we had no other choice- but still he couldn't help but hope that there was some other way. I stepped over to him and hugged him around the neck, resting my head on his. To my surprise, Snowflake sidled up at Hunters side and leaned into him, and Kubo came up to wrap an arm around him as well.

"I know you're scared.. I'm scared too.." Snowflake said softly, and at her words I could feel his muscles relax slightly.

I spoke up softly as well, "I wish we could find a safer way, but we don't know which way is home.. and we're really far away. We have to take this opportunity." I ran my hand through his fur to calm him.

"And after all, who knows what will happen?" Kubo said jovially. I raised an eyebrow at him to tell him to shush, and he shrugged at me in return. I rested my head back down on Hunters again.

"I won't let you get killed, okay? I promise." I said softly. He relaxed again and looked down. He nodded gently, but didn't say anything. We all pulled away from him and I gave him a big confident smile. He smiled hesitantly back.

I turned back towards the entrance to the forest and looked between Snowflake and Kubo's determined faces. "We're ready," I said seriously, "let's go."

The sun was high above our heads as we made our way through the forest, but it was still somehow totally dark. Snowflake had been right in saying that we wouldn't encounter anyone- it was ominously empty in the forest, with only sound being the trees' leaves rustling in the breeze. We weren't exactly sure what we were looking for, but finding anybody within this forest seemed to be a good start. We stopped to eat a few times, but we didn't have much left from what we brough from home.

We hadn't exactly been planning on getting kidnapped, but thankfully Snowflake made us keep a lot of food on us in general. She was always so prepared...

it turns out the strange lights that I saw were actually pretty little mushrooms, glowing a soft blue and pink colour. they dotted the area and were the only proper light source in the whole forest. Even though I knew it had to still be midday, it wasn't easy to tell. I played with the thought of the whole world being like this. Eternal darkness, with only the lights we create to guide us. Glowing plants and torches being all we had... I could only imagine night plants and pokemon surviving.

Likewise i imagined it would be pretty for a while, but... having the world like this forever would be awful.

Even if the sky was still filled with stars, the planet would be cold and dead... eventually nothing would be able to survive...

"Hey Moss, are you alright?" I voice cut through my thoughts.

"Ah!" I gasped and shook my head, turning to see Kubo's confused expression. "Yes, I'm fine.. I was just lost in my thoughts..." I looked away from him to see where we were.

We were coming upon a small village. My eyes grew wide upon seeing it, I truly had started to think nothing would live here. But it seemed some pokemon did really live here.. but then I looked closer. Houses were old and crumbling, ivy and vines growing out of the walls. Some even had trees breaking through their roofs. The roads were equally overgrown... the place looked more like Tapu Koko's ruins than a village pokemon would live in.

I guessed that nobody had lived here... for a very long time.

"Look at that..." Kubo said softly, but there was some awe in his voice.. I could tell he was excited to see something I was sure nobody had seen in ages. Snowflake shook her head pityingly, and Hunter cowered fearfully. I had to agree with Hunter... ruins like this did not bode well.

We walked through the village, hesitantly stepping over large rocks and debris. It looked like it may have even been abandoned in a rush...

"I wonder what happened?" Snowflake said with a sad look. I could tell she pitied whoever had lived here. "Those poor pokemon... This place looks like it must've been so happy once..."

As we made our way through we came upon something strange. Standing tall above us was a sudden rock wall, stretching up above the trees. I couldn't tell how tall it was, but I was sure it had to be a mountain, because there was a huge cave entrance in the rocky cliffside. The cave lead into darkness, which no end in sight. The stalactites and stalgmites looked like teeth, as if entering would be like walking into our doom...

"Do you think this is where we're supposed to be?" I asked, looking up at the huge mouth of the tunnel. "Do you think that strange pokemon is in here?"

"I think so, yes..." Snowflake said softly, "but I'm not sure.." she turned to me worriedly.

Kubo scratched at the back of his head thoughtfully, a nervous look on his face. "Well, there isn't anywhere else to go... let's go and figure it out!" He narrowed his eyes seriously, pulled the bag strap higher on his shoulder, and started marching towards the cave. I looked at Snowflake and Hunter with trepidation, briefly before following behind him.

I still couldn't help but wonder what had happened to the pokemon who had lived here before...

We had only taken our first steps into the darkness of the cave, before Hunter stopped us. "Moss... I- I-... I can't," he stuttered, his eyes wide and shimmering again, "I don't want to... I can't..."

I felt my heart twist. I stepped up to him and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, "hey, I know you're scared... but remember what I promised."

He looked at me with tears in his eyes and nodded, "I hope you can keep that promise..." he narrowed his eyes and glared rather pathetically at me, "if not! Well- then my ghost will haunt you for eternity!"

I laughed softly and lightly punched his shoulder before stepping back, "sounds good to me!"

"And don't worry Hunter, we'll help you as well!" Kubo said, nodding at Snowflake, "Thats how a team works! We take care of each other." I couldn't hide my pleased grin. I was glad that my friends had finally started to accept him.

We finally made our way inside the cave. Unlike outside, with the occasional mushroom and beam of sunlight to guide us, in the cave it was totally dark.. We couldn't see anything. Hunter had frowned in confusion when we mentioned being unable to see (and actually had it in him to laugh when I walked into a wall); and that was when we realized he could see in the dark. After that, we made him walk in front. He was much less amused at that prospect. But I could tell he was trying to be brave, so he did it, leading us deeper into the cave.

As we went, I felt something strange. It almost felt as if something was... watching us. I hoped that it was that pokemon Tapu Koko had talked about. He must be friendly, right? He surely wasn't dangerous like we all were suspecting... I had to know.

"Hello?" I stopped suddenly, crying out into the darkness. My voice echoed all around us, scaring my friends, who bumped into me from behind. "Are you there?" I continued.

"Moss!" Kubo whispered angrily, "what in the world do you think you're doing!?"

"I have a feeling someone is watching us," I whispered back with a nervous shrug, "I was just... greeting him." I could barely see anything in the darkness, but even I could see the disbelieving expressions on Kubo and Snowflake's faces. For a moment I felt rather stupid, until I turned to see what Hunter thought, and realized I couldn't see anything, and he had been quiet for quite a while.

I reached out to touch him and felt nothing. "Hunter?" I called into the darkness, "Hunter are you there?"

"Hush," from a small distance, I heard Hunters voice snap back seriously. It was his voice, but... his tone was distinctly different. "Not so loud. Leave this place, now!" I blinked in surprise, what was this about..? A feeling of unease passed over me and even though I couldn't see them, I knew my friends felt the same way.

"Hunter? What's up with you...?" Snowflake murmured worriedly. I felt her step up to my side, and I rested my hand on her back for support. Her presence reassured me, but the dread in my gut didn't go away.

"You can go right on back the way you came. Leave now, because if you don't, I will make your death a horrible one." Hunter's voice was short and clipped, his words a harsh and dire warning. But now it was very clear it wasn't truly him... His voice echoed around us everywhere. I felt a rush of cold flow around my body. I could feel myself go pale. This must be the one we were looking for... and indeed he was the one intending to drive us mad...

Was Hunter already..?

"Look, we're sorry we barged into your territory," Snowflake said shakily into the darkness, "but Tapu Koko himself sent us to you! He said you're the only one who knows the way back to Serperior's Guild." Following her words, the strange voice was contemplatively silent.

"We humbly request your help," I managed to mumble softly, bowing my head, "we will be on our way immediately if you can help us find the way-"

"Yeah," Kubo said sternly, trying to be brave. He put his hands on his hips, "and I'm sure Sakura and Mesprit are worried sick about-"

"MESPRIT!?" The voice suddenly snarled, serious and demanding. "Did you say Mesprit!? How do you know her?" Through the darkness I could feel some kind of sudden movement, like a gust of air. When the voice spoke again, it was frightfully close now, right up next to my face. "Wait a second... I know- you must be the ones who hurt her, aren't you!?"

I jumped back in fear and tried to explain myself, "Wait- this is all just a misunderstading-"

"Where is she!?" He interrupted me by screaming in my face. I gasped and stepped back again, but suddenly something sharp dug into my hand- the harsh, sharp teeth digging into my hand were much stronger than I anticipated. Hunter never seemed to be this strong- He twisted his head and swung me against the wall. "Ah-!" I gasped and crumpled against it, and even though I could barely see, I could hear my friends step in front of me to protect me.

"You won't touch him!" I heard Snowflake snap angrily, but only silence answered. Snowflake and Kubo shifted uneasily. The darkness was our greatest enemy right now.. I wished we had some way to make light. If only we had Hunter, was he okay..?

"M-Moss..?" A familiar voice said, and suddenly I felt all three of my friends lifting me up from my position leaning against the cave wall. I stood and blinked around fearfully, a bit shaken. I reached out to blindly touch the face of my shy little friend. "Hunter..?" I breathed. He nodded and leaned onto my side.

"Are you okay? I-I'm sorry- I c-couldn't control my body..." he said shakily. I gently petted his head and smiled through the darkness. I opened my mouth to try and reassure him- but a suddenly beam of bright ice shot between us, making the both of us jump away from each other. I stumbled and collapsed onto my back. I scrambled to try and see what had happened, and in my frantic searching I could hear Kubo jump into action.

"Snowflake! What are you-!" He grunted and then yelped as if getting shoved to the side. Then suddenly I could see Snowflake's eyes glaring down at me, inches from my face. But instead of a cool icy blue, they were bright yellow, and glowed eerily in the darkness. She bared her fangs and shot forward to attack, and it was all I could do to dodge her. I didn't want to hurt her- and I realized now that Hunter had not lost his mind...

He and Snowflake had been possessed...

"Look out Moss!" Hunter cried as I stumbled to my feet and was unable to avoid another ice beam Snowflake sent at me. "Gaah-!" I yelped as I was flung against the wall and my body became encased in ice. I forgot how weak I was to the cold.. her ice attacks were so painful. It almost reminded me of the day I met her, freezing out there on the icy mountain...

I looked up into the darkness and saw her approaching, with those glowing yellow eye... "Snowflake- I know this isn't you! You have to fight it-!" I gasped and pulled at my arms, trying to escape the ice imprisoning me. I looked at her pleadingly. I saw her charge another ice beam, preparing to freeze me completely. "Don't do this..." I implored her- but then a dark pulse knocked her away.

She shot off into the darkness and landed heavily with a loud grunt. I blinked when I didn't hear her get back up, she was surely unconscious. As Hunter followed after her, Kubo came up to me. "Kubo- come on, dude, help me out of here-" I struggled fruitlessly for a moment before realizing... that his eyes were glowing a bright yellow now...

He snarled and raised up a hand, ready to power-up punch me. "You're going to die for what you did to her..." Kubo growled darkly, and I paled in fear. He struck me and I cried out, but I refused to give up.

"Sorry for this..." I murmured, and used pin missile on him. He yelped in pain and it knocked him off, far away from me. I tried once again to escape the ice, but I couldn't. I couldn't see anything in the darkness. How could everything have gone so wrong so quickly...

Where was Hunter? Was he alright? I couldn't hear anything... I was so cold. I promised I would protect him...

Suddenly I heard a voice echoing inside my head. 'Hello Moss, did you get help from that pokemon? Are you on your way home yet?' Mesprit asked innocently.

I gasped and my eyes shot open, immediately wide awake again. 'We found him! But- he's trying to kill us!' Mesprit's voice gasped in horror but I didn't give her time to respond, 'It's pitch black dark in here! We can't see anything! We tried to ask him for help, but as soon as we mentioned your name, he went crazy and possessed each of us to get us to kill each other. I'm stuck in ice right now, I can't move! Snowflake is unconscious, Kubo... I don't know, and Hunter...'

I paused in my plea when I saw two bring, glowing yellow eyes open up a few meters from me. They glowered at me darkly. However, they didn't look like any of the eyes my friends have...

They looked like Mesprit's.

There was a beat of complete, agonizing silence. 'I know who he is,' Mesprit said seriously in my head, 'don't worry, Moss. I'll handle him.' Our telepathic connection was cut.

I hoped she'd be fast about it- because those eyes were drawing ever closer to me. I struggled against the ice again, but as he approached, his eyes began to glow brighter with a lighter yellow colour. I suddenly felt as if something was entering my body. My muscles convulsed on thir own, and I felt as if I was a passenger in my own mind. Someone else was in control. I tried to fight back best I could, but he was really strong...

I suddenly punched out through the ice as if it were easy, and fell from the wall, catching myself on my hands and knees. I panted there for a moment, before I sat up and sat against the wall. Slowly, my hands moved up and wrapped around my neck. My fingers clasped tightly around it and pressed until I choked. I gasped in pain, searching for air. "Gaah-!" I tried to move my hands away, but it was useless. And all the while, those bright yellow eyes continued to stare down at me, impassive, angry, vengeful.

All I could do was try to hold out until Mesprit fixed this... but even though it had only been a few moments, it felt like hours...

Then the bright glowing eyes went wide in shock.. and closed. My hands let go of my neck and I felt control of my body return as I gasped for breath. I coughed and hacked on the ground, massaging my neck and shivering violently from the cold. I panted heavily, looking up through the darkness dizzily. The yellow eyes were still missing. I didn't care.

I stumbled to my feet and dragged myself as quickly as I could over to Snowflake, who was still lying unconsious on the ground. I checked her wounds worriedly. "S-Snowf-flake...' I stuttered, relieved that she didn't seem too seriously hurt.

"I apologize for attacking you," a new voice said, but it spoke in that same controlled tone that my friends had, when they were possessed.. "Mesprit told me what happened. I.. never would've hurt you if I knew."

I felt like I should get mad at him, but I ignored him. I only cared about Snowflake right now... I rested my head on her side gently, to feel her breathing. I sighed softly. Hunter... and Kubo... where were they? Were they okay? I lifted my head and looked around, but I still couldn't see.

Then, to my surprise, I felt myself and Snowflake get lifted into the air. Before I could protest, we started moving very quickly through the cave. I shut my eyes against the wind, but even though my eyes were shut I could see a bright light fade into view. I gasped and squinted against it painfully. Slowly I felt myself get lowered to the ground... I blinked my eyes open hesitantly. It took a few moments for my eyes to readjust, but after a minute I could see clearly.

I was still leaning against Snowflakes side, but we now were sitting on the shore of a huge shimmering underground lake. There was a hole bashed into the ceiling, where beautiful warm sunlight streamed in. It made the water below sparkle serenely. I could tell by looking at the sky outside, that it was nearing sunset.

I looked around. Not to far from me and Snowflake I saw my friends lying on the ground, all of them in very bad shape.. I was no different, but somehow I was the only one left conscious.

"This is my home. I am sworn to protect it, so I will do whatever it takes..." I jumped, hearing that voice speak from behind me. I had almost forgotten about him. I looked up, and saw a surprisingly small pokemon above me. He had two tails, and his body was the same shape as Mesprit's. But instead of pink, his head was blue, and was more triangular in shape. His wide, yellow eyes glowed in the same mysterious way that Mesprit's did.

he stared down at me with a stoic, controlled expression. "I jumped to conclusions about your intentions because you were intruders. I... I was very angry when I sensed Mesprit was in trouble, because I cannot leave my home. Especially during such dangerous times..." He sighed and scratched at the back of his head. "I'm.. so grafeful you saved her."

I deadpanned. He said he was thankful, but he didn't sound like it at all. He sounded more like... a kid who got scolded for doing something they weren't supposed to. I could tell he had some level of pride and was more ashamed at his failure than anything.

"...Are you Uxie or Azelf?" I asked, tilting my head with a frown, ignoring his apology, "Mesprit told me about her brothers.. but I don't know what either of you look like."

He smiled softly and floated down to my level. "I'm Azelf, the being of Willpower." He did a small bow, and I nodded. That made sense, considering he could control us... "Any friends of my sisters are friends of mine. You're very welcome here." He said gently. "And- I must admit that I was quite surprised at your strength. You resisted me tenaciously. I rarely see anyone who's will is as strong as yours; it's the only reason you survived for so long."

"Wait... what do you mean survived? You-" I gasped and leapt to my feet, running away from him and Snowflake to look over my neglected friends, "you didn't kill them did you!?" I reached for Kubo's pulse, and then Hunters, my own heart racing. After a moment of searching, I found that their heartbeats were normal. I sighed in relief and collpased back onto the ground.

"It's all thanks to Mesprit." I heard his voice behind me again. I growled in irritation to know he had followed me. "If she hadn't contacted me, its likely none of you would be alive..."

"Yeah, I kind of guessed that!" I snapped at him, and he jumped in surprise at the tearful grimace on my face. "Need I remind you that we tried to tell you the same thing she did!"

"I'm sorry, okay!" Azelf cried back, clearly embarrassed to do so. "With everything that's been going on-!" But then he cut himself off, and shut down. His face went blank and he crossed his arms. I wondered why he felt the need to hide his excuse from me.

But honestly, I didn't care. "Whatever..." I shrugges spitefully and sat down next to the lake, crossing my arms too. "So- do you know the way for us to get back to the guild or not?"

My unspoken question about this being a waste of time was not missed by him. He flew towards me and sat down in front of me. "In fact, yes, I do." He settled into the rocky pebbled beach and sat up tall and proper. "I will guide you through the cave, where we'll reach a path that will lead you directly home."

I blinked at him quietly for a moment, before turning and looking out at the lake. under the shimmering sunlight, it almost made the lake look as if it were glowing... It was like a small, little orange star shimmered just underneath the waves. I frowned, and squinted at it. Was it truly a trick of the light, or..?

"What's that?" I pointed at it, "that soft glow under the water!" Now that I was looking, it seemed to pulse with life, soft and gentle like a heartbeat. Azelf followed my gaze and frowned. He spoke seriously.

"That is the reason I cannot leave my cave. I have to protect it. It is my purpose, as well as Mesprit and Uxie. It is why I suspect she was attacked." He grew angry, frustrated perhaps, thinking about it. I knew already that that was not true. She had been attacked because of Cosmog, who was now evolved and sleeping in Kubo's bag... As Azelf continued to speak, I peered over at Kubo and hoped she was alright in there. "You see, that is the Solar Stone. It has the power of Solgaleo, as it helps control our sun. He gave it to me a long time ago... I spent a long time looking for the best place to protect it, where nobody could take it."

"And you found this cave," I supplied softly and turned to look at him, "but... what about that small abandoned village outside?"

He peered back at me, "I had to scare them away! There was no other way to secure the safety of this place."

"But that ways their home!" I glared at him, "you can't just hurt others for the sake of your cause, you know!"

I sorely regretting snpping at him this time though, as his expression became deadly serious. A chill ran down my back and for a moment I was afraid he was going to possess me again. But he didn't and he instead sniffed and looked away, his expression blank and controlled. "Keeping the stone safe is more important than anyting. I will do whatever it takes, even at the cost of my own life."

"...Even the lives of your family?" I hesitantly tried to argue.

His face remained emotionless. "I cannot be selfish. If the worlds depends on it, then yes. My duty take precedence."

"I see..." I said sadly and stood from the ground to turn away from him. "So you'd let your family be killed.. all for some rock." I glared at the ground in frustration. I shouldn't be surprised. He was going to kill me over a misunderstanding.. of course he wouldn't care.

"That is not just a simple stone," Azelf said, his voice dangerously cold. He approached me and glared at me, his eyes glowing. I gulped. "The world's light, weather, wind, and climate depends on it. It harnesses the suns power. If something were to happen to it... Everything would become cold, dark, dead."

I rasied my hands defensively, "o-okay, I get it-"

"I would do anything to protect my family!" He snapped suddenly, his eyes flashing with anger. "I would be loathe to ever let them get hurt... but there are things I do not have a choice over. I cannot protect them both- I-... I do not know how I could..." To my surprise, his anger faded to be replaced with a forlorn embarrassment. He clearly ruminated on this a lot, since Mesprit got hurt. Perhaps I judged him too quickly. I could understand him wanting to jump at a chance to protect and avenge his fallen sibling. But in his haste, he only caused more harm...

I reached out to him and wanted to speak up, but a small sound from behind me interrupted my words. I blinked and turned around. Kubo was rising from the ground with a small groan of pain, and lifted his head up to look at me. "Moss..?" I felt relief flood my heart. He frowned and looked around. At seeing Hunter at his side, he gasped and shook the zorua as urgently as his weakened body could manage. I quickly ran up to them, excited to help them.

Hunter keened and shook his head, blinking his eyes opened tiredly and blinking up at me and Kubo as we crowded around him. Even thought his face was in pain, at least he was alive...

"Where's Snowflake..?" Kubo weakly asked, eyeing my worriedly. I smiled reassurringly and gestured back over to her. He and Hunter stumbled to their feet, and I smiled softly as I watched them make their ways over to her. I joined them. We shook her and she took slowly began to awaken.

She curled up into a ball, "urrgh.. my head..." She paused for a moment, and then suddenly jumped awake, her eyes wild and fearful. "M-Moss!" She caught my gaze and tears immediately sprung into her eyes. "Oh, Moss! I'm so sorry..!"

She jumped on me and wrapped her paws around my shoulders, almost knocking me over. I gasped and flushed a little as she nuzzled my cheek. Slowly, I hugged her back. "I didn't mean to hurt you... I was- OH!" she gasped again and jumped off me, inspecting me for injuries, "are you hurt?"

A bit dizzy from her energetic behaviour, I shook my head and blinked at her blankly. "I'm fine..."

As I was distracted with Snowflake, Kubo inspected the area. His arms were gripping the bag slung over his shoulder tightly. He took the moment to check on Cosmoem, and I spied her still sleeping peacefully inside. Thank goodness... "Where are we..?" Kubo asked with trepidation. It was then he noticed Azelf watching us from the shore. Azelf watched us blankly, with not even a slight hint of emotion on his face. Kubo froze. "Hey... are you that jerk who tried to kill us!?" He snarled.

I laughed awkwardly, and stepped in between my friends and Azelf. "Guys- meet Azelf," I gestured to him graciously, "the being of Willpower, and also.. Mesprits brother."

Hunter stomped his foot and barked at me. "I don't care who he is! He took over our bodies and tried to get us to kill each other!" He was snarling, but his voice was more fearful than outraged. Kubo nodded with a gentle frown.

"Yeah, I can't believe someone as sweet as Mesprit has such a cruel and impulsive brother... I can only imagine how the other one acts..."

I grimaced uncomfortably. Truthfully I kind of agreed with them.. but at the same time I felt the need to defend Azelf. He wasn't so bad, deep down. "Listen guys, you have to calm down- he has a job here as a guardian and already apologized, so-"

"Oh did he? I certainly didn't hear it!" Hunter snapped tearfully. He and Kubo were both still deeply upset.

"Hey... that's enough," Snowflake leaned against him supportively and then turned to me with a small smile. "What matters is that we're alive. But, I'm curious.. Moss, you said he's a guardian? Sakura said that Mesprit was known as a guardian too.. what is he protecting?" She tilted her head at Azelf curiously.

"Wait... you mean her lake is empty?" Azelf said softly, in shock. He slowly approached us, although his face remained impassive.

I hummed thoughtfully, "well... Mesprit is healing at the guild. But I know her spirit goes out to check the lake every night." I explained the concept to my friends, who were all shocked at this knowledge. Kubo's eyes shined excitedly hearing about her wonderous powers, so much so that he hopped up into the air happily. He regretted it, however, when he landed and felt a sharp pain sting at his legs.

"Ow..." he grumbled and sat on the ground to rub his legs.

"I, too, have that ability," Azelf said proudly, putting his hands on his hips. "So she has been keeping an eye on it.. I'm glad it's safe. Although I don't quite understand why they would hurt her, and not take it..." I opened my mouth to answer him, but I was spoken over.

"It?" Hunter frowned, "What are you talking about?"

Azelf turned to me uneasily... It was almost as if he was asking if they could be trusted with this. I nodded, but he continued to hesitate, and peered back over at the lake, and the soft orange glow that shone from the water. Then an idea came to me. I focused deeply, shutting my eyes and biting my lip.

'You can trust them,' I thought, trying to contact him telepathically. He jumped in surprised and turned to blink at me. I stared at him seriously, and he stared back. Then he started to tell them what he told me. He pointed to the lake and showed them the aura from the stone, and how he had to protect it for the sake of the world.

"So... are you implying that Mesprit has one too?" Kubo asked as he crossed his arms. Azelf nodded.

"Yes, and Uxie as well. Mesprit has the Lunar Stone, and Uxie the Earth Stone." He paused, and stared out at the lake thoughtfully. He touched his chin and his gaze fell to the ground. Me and Kubo exchanged an uneasy look. "I... I'm sorry about what I did. There's more I want to ask, and more I'm sure you want to know as well. But you're hurt. You were already hurt when you got here- you need to get to a medic as soon as you can."

he began to float away from us, and we all peered at each other curiously. "Come," he turned and gestured for us to follow him, "I'll show you the way out of here... it'll be safe travels from here on out." He then turned and continued going, not looking abck to make sure we were following.

Hunter whimpered softly, but he stood up tall and nodded at us. "I'll be our eyes again, okay?"

I smiled softly... he had really come to like us, hadn't he..? I nodded and put a hand on his shoulder. "Lead the way," I said softly.

Soon, we would be home... and we will have won the battle. We weren't going to lose ever again!


	13. Chapter 13

The journey home was mercifully uneventful.

Azelf guided us to a path through the woods on the other side of the mountain. It lead down into a calm, serene valley. The valley seemed to be in the pit of a mountain range, and if it weren't for Azelfs directions, we would surely get lost.

But as we made our way along the path, we came by a small travelling merchant. She was a plucky little Nidorina with her Mudsdale friend, and the two of them happily welcomed us to ride in the back of the carriage- as they were going in the same direction as us. The ability to rest was well appreciated, and we slept there all through the night, taking shifts to make sure we didn't ride too long and get lost.

I remembered feeling watched during my shift. I had sat up and talked softly with Mudsdale as she pulled the carriage. "You're not tired at all?" I asked gently, wrapped up in one of the blanket that Nidorina had gracefully given us.

Mudsdale shook her head, "I have great stamina. As long as I don't go too fast, I can go for a few days."

"Are you sure? That doesn't sound healthy," I pointed out. She laughed softly and told me that she didn't work the same way I did. All pokemon could handle different things, and had different limits... someone that was unhealthy for me was natural for one of her kind. I thought about that for a while, as I sat back in silence and stared up at the stars. They twinkled gently...

My friends were all different kinds of pokemon... Together we could accomplish so much more than on our own. So how could I be some soft of hero..?

But as I sat there, I felt something cool brush by me. I was chilled, even under the comfort of my blanket. I blinked and looked around. For some reason I felt like we weren't the only ones awake. It felt like there was some other presence here... watching me.

I was on the alert the rest of the night, but no pokemon came out to jump us during my shift. Even when Kubo got up to take my spot, and I curled up next to Snowflake to get some rest of my own, I couldn't sleep.

I could feel some unseen eyes on me.

By daybreak, we had to go our separate ways from Nidorina and Mudsdale, but the walk to the mountain wouldn't be long now. Azelf's directions had been spot on. In the near distance, I could see the huge snowy mountain towering over all the rest. It was awe-inspiring to see it from so far away... it was easy to forget how imposing it was.

As we drew closer, Hunter grew anxious. "What will they say, seeing me back there..?" He pulled be behind and whispered to me. Kubo and Snowflake continued on ahead of us. I blinked and shook my head, shaking my exhaustion from my mind. I placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You don't have anything to worry about... they trust me, and you helped us save Cosmoem! There's no way they'll turn you away."

"Now, you say that..." his ears folded back nervously, "but I hurt one of your friends... I stole from them- there's no way they'd-"

"Hey, it'll be fine, okay?" I smiled, "trust me... I won't let them send you away."

It went unspoken, that he had been recruited into our group. He didn't even need to ask, and neither did we. I smiled softly to myself as I realized that. Not two days ago he was saying he hated us... but now he was a good friend.

I knew things would work out...

I felt my mind slip. My eyes drifted closed for a moment before they shot back open. I was exhausted from all the excitement we had been through since that Ultra Beast kidnapped us... and I barely got any sleep last night from feeling watched.

My eyes drifted shut again. Perhaps just resting them a moment would be good...

The last thing I remembered before I passed out, was the sun finally rising above the peak of the mountain, and the village glowing in the distance.

I woke up to find myself in a very familiar place. I was comfortably curled up in my bed, warm and safe at last. I blinked my eyes open and peered around. It was late at night, almost morning- I must've slept through the entire day. I was in our guild room, lying in bed next to Snowflake, and Kubo was sleeping nearby us too. All of us were bound in bandages and gauze, our bruises and bumps treated carefully. I sighed and leaned back in my bed, staring up at the ceiling. I shut my eyes tiredly.

it almost felt like we'd never get back here...

To my surprise, I then became aware of some whisperings. But Kubo and Snowflake were asleep..? I opened my eyes again realizing where it came from, and looked towards Mesprit's bed. Indeed she was there, and she was not alone. She was sitting up in bed, speaking softly together with... Azelf? Who was sitting in the edge of her hay bed politely. He had a hand around her back, helping her sit up, and she held his other hand in both of hers. They spoke with easy, relaxed smiles on their faces.

I stared. What was he doing here? Didn't he have to stay and protect his stone? ..Did Snowflake and Kubo know he was here?

It seemed they sensed my eyes on them, as Mesprit turned her glowing amber eyes on me. "Oh, Moss... You're finally awake, I'm so relieved," Mesprit smiled at me, "you did good work out there." Azelf tilted his head at me, an uncomfortable, awkward look twisting his features. Almost as if my mere presence sort of embarrassed him. I supposed it would be... considering he tried to kill me. But his uneasy look faded suddenly as Mesprit looked back over to him, controlled into a soft, neutral smile.

His eyes were empty and serious again... How could he do such an emotionless face?

I opened my mouth to speak, but it seemed my facial expression was question enough for Mesprit. "Are you asking why Azelf is here?" She asked knowingly. I nodded. "He decided to check on me properly.. and since you were coming straight to me, well.. he followed you." Mesprit smiled happily at her brother, "you were right Moss... I did see him again." Mesprit leaned into Azelf and hugged him as best she could with her injuries. Azelf put his head on her shoulder and hugge her back. Both of them looked so at ease, and happy.

After so many years apart.. I could only imagine how nice it was. I smiled for them. I was glad they could see each other again...

For a moment I thought about my own family. I couldn't remember if I had one.

Suddenly I heard a soft knock at the door. Hearing this, Azelf shot up into the air in alarm. "Ah-!" Mesprit gasped and reach up to him, distraught. He hesitated, and flew back down to give her one more brisk hug. He then flew out the open window to our room. but before he disappeared into the night, he turned and shot me a small little smile. He waved at the both of us, and then flew off. Mesprit watched after him with a smile, but there was a sad little look in her eyes. She knew she wouldn't see him for a long time, still.

But.. who knows? The future hadn't happened yet... If I was as much of a hero as Cosmoem said I was, then I would make sure their family would never go separated for long again.

"Morning!" Sakura cried, finally unlocking the door and leaping inside excitedly. She clearly had the intention of waking us up. Snowflake and Kubo groaned and shifted to cover their ears. Sakura paused in surprise, seeing me and Mesprit awake. But then she smiled, and bounded over to my bed. "Hey Moss! It's great to see you're awake already..! Especially since, well..." She laughed awkwardly and looked back over at the door. I blinked, seeing Heliolisk and guildmaster Serperior waiting patiently just outside.

Sakura leaned over to whisper in my ear. "I couldn't stop them... sorry.." She grinned apologetically. I smiled back tiredly.

Our two superiors entered the room, their heads held high. But there was a concern in Heliolisks eyes, and a soft gentleness to Serperior that I knew meant she was relieved we were okay. As Serperior entered the room, however, my bag- which was sitting on our little table- started to shake. The clasp snapped open and out flew my little friend, hovering innocently above the bag. It seemed almost as if she was listening, even though she was asleep. Perhaps she was still aware of what was going on...

It was so weird, the powers that Ultra Beasts could have...

"I'm sure you all must be exhausted with your adventure," Heliolisk said gently, but loudly. Snowflake and Kubo blinked open their eyes and peered at him in tired confusion. "But there are important matters the guildmaster wishes to discuss." My friends sat up in their beds and looked up at the two of them. For a moment they frowned at me, a silent question in their eyes. Even Mesprit was silent too, however as she stared at Serperior, I could it see in her eyes that she was... examining her?

"So, your mission has been completed successfully." Serperior said seriously. She peered at Cosmoem with wild interest, who in turn let out a soft, strange little coo. I felt a well of pride build up in me. Yes, we were all alive, and we all worked together to save my friend.

But wait... someone was missing. A sudden pit dropped in my stomach. Where was Hunter? I looked around the room frantically... but he was nowhere to be seen.

Heliolisk noticed my frantic searching, and he stepped over to me and peered down at me. "What's wrong Moss? Are you looking for something?" I paused and blinked up at him. He furrowed his brow at me curiously.

"Yes, I'm looking for Hunter. You know- the zorua thief who took food from us a little while ago. Where is he?" At my urgent questioning, I could see distaste and bewilderment on Heliolisks face. He shook his head, perplexed. I clawed at my face in frustration. "He was kidnapped along with us and joined us when we went into the Ultra Space." I huffed stubbornly. "He was really brave.. and helpful. He's our friend now, and a valued member of the team."

I looked around at my friends in search of an answer. Sakura frowned softly, trying to understand how that thief could possibly be good, or useful... Mesprit's eyes still did not leave the guildmaster. Mesprit continued to stare at her, eventually making Serperior divert her gaze.

I blinked. Had Mesprit managed to actually make Serperior uncomfortable?

I shook my head. I needed to know what happened to Hunter first. When I looked to Kubo and Snowflake, they smiled at me awkwardly. "After we arrived, they wanted to rush all of us to the medic," Snowflake said softly, "but they didn't believe us that he was safe to bring here, so... he's at that mountain hospital, with Blissey. You remember?"

"Oohh..." I breathed. That felt so long ago now... "her and Happiny.."

"Yes, so he is there." Heliolisk said awkwardly. "Or not. Maybe he left already... I don't know." He shrugged. I could tell the subject of Hunter kind of unnerved him.. I wondered if it'd be hard to argue his case after all... Still, I nodded. As long as he was okay, I would consider it alright for now..

Guildmaster Serperior returned her attention to me. It seemed almost like she was pointedly ignoring Mesprit, and I couldn't help but wonder what wordless exchange they must've shared. "I can see in your eyes that you have much on your mind," Serperior said, "tell me the information you have gathered." I blinked, my mouth falling open and shutting again.

Where would I even start?

Snowflake and Kubo pitched in to help me tell her, Heliolisk, Sakura and Mesprit all that happened. Kubo told them about us getting kidnapped, Snowflake explained all that Tapu Koko had told us, and I tried my best to deescribe what the Ultra Space had been like. Through our story, they were all very shocked and uneasy, except for Serperior, who was completely unfazed by everything.

When our story was done, we all sat in silence for a moment. "Very well done, the lot of you." Serperior said with a small incline of her head. "I expected nothing less from you all. Also," she turned to Cosmoem as she hovered inncoently above us, "Cosmoem, was it? Make yourself at home." In response, my little strange friend bobbed up and down in the air, as if happy, but didn't appear to respond otherwise. She was kind of strange, wasn't she?

"Thanks to Tapu Koko, we now know much more about the situation... and what it will take to save the planet." Serperior hummed emotionlessly. "I shall go back to my room to think more on this. I shall entrust missions on this topic to your team, Moss."

Heliolisk turned to her in shock. "But..! Guildmaster- you can't do that... they're just kids..!"

"Who're you calling kids?" Kubo scoffed and crossed his arms.

Sakura nodded, "Y-yeah!"

The Guildmaster peered down at Heliolisk coldly. Her expression was almost unreadable for the rest of us, but Heliolisk seemed to understand what it meant. After a moment, he sighed bowed his head. Conceeding to her, he lifted up his notepad and started writing something. I wondered what she had ordered of him.. He finished and nodded to her. Her expression loosened up and she nodded in return, then moved to leave.

But before they could go, Kubo spoke up. "Uhm..! Guildmaster, can I ask something?" He smiled weakly and lifted his hand up to wave her back. She tilted her head, wordlessly giving him permission to ask his question. He brightened up, even though everyone's eyes were on him now. Everybody looked at him except for Mesprit, who still didn't take her gaze off of Serperior.

"We know Hunter didn't have the best introduction... and you don't have to forgive him for it, but... he made up for his mistakes. His illusion ability really saved us in the Ultra Space, and he's growing to be an important friend to us- all of is!" He gestured to me and Snowflake, and we nodded encouragingly. Kubo smiled. "So can't he join us? He could help us in this war against Necrozma..."

Both Snowflake and I joined him in looking to the Guildmaster hopefully. She didn't say anything, just stared back at us with another unreadable expression. I squinted at her, trying to figure out what she was thinking. To my surprise, she seemed to be avoiding Mesprits equally intense gaze. Why was she avoiding her so much? Clearly Mesprit had something on her mind, something she wanted to say...

"Very well." Serperior said suddenly, making us jump in surprise. "We need more pokemon to help us take on this threat, and Zorua are known to be the masters of illusions.. he would be a great help to us." We all smiled in relief, when she spoke up again. "However... After what he did to my guild, I cannot accept him into our ranks. He cannot live here. Understood?"

Our shoulders slumped and I wilted sadly. We nodded in disappointment. At least he would be allowed to help, but... where would he live? Hunter didn't have a home as far as we could tell...

"That pokemon is homeless. I know his type. He probably struggles alone, too." Mesprit said suddenly, making Serperior freeze. Everyone's eyes went wide, seeing her tense. "It would be really rude if you don't help him. Don't you think so, Snivy?"

I blinked. Snivy?

We all looked between the two curiously, watching as the psychic-type giggled and Serperior remained frozen. The guildmaster stared at her for a moment, and I almost thought I saw a flash of anger in her eyes. But just as quickly, her usual emotionless mask returned to her face. "Alright," She said stiffly, "He can stay with us- but only if you... never... call me that again. Got it?"

"Deal~!" Mesprit nodded, a smug grin forming on her face.

Serperior scoffed. "Heliolisk, search for Hunter and bring him to the guild... He shall be our guest." She sent another scornful look at Mesprit before turning and making her leave. Heliolisk blinked after her. "Oh! Uh- yes Guildmaster, of course! I'll get to it at once!" With one last relieved smile at us- he turned and rushed after her.

In the silence of their absence, Cosmoem slowly floated down and landed back on her bag. All of us slowly turned to look at Mesprit.

"What was that?" Sakura frowned incredulously.

"Yeah- how did you do that, Mesprit?" Kubo asked, his mouth agape in awe. Mesprit just shrugged shyly and giggled. "Let's just say... I know your Guildmaster quite well. She looks hard on the outside, but she had a nice heart and would never let someone in need suffer..." Mesprit hummed and tapped at her chin thoughtfully. "Her only problem is just.. her complicated relationship with emotion. She seems afraid to show them..."

"If you know her, does that mean shes visited your home?" Snowflake asked, tilting her head, "like she did with Tapu Koko?"

Mesprit nodded in return. "I would say I'm a bit surprised she hasn't come to check on me until now... but she must be embarrassed," she grinned, "she used to visit me and Azelf every now and again, to give us things.. she was a Snivy back then."

"That's so weird..." Kubo said softly, "the Guildmaster, being a tiny kid? Her being embarrassed? That doesn't sound like her at all!"

Sakura grinned in amusement, "everybody was a kid once, Kubo! But I'm sure she'd rather pretend she was always this cool, huh?" She nudged Mesprit playfully and the psychic-type giggled.

Then Sakura glared pointedly at us. "I hope you guys will take me on the next mission! Not that I don't think its important to take care of Mesprit but I joined for a reason you know! I want to help save the world too!"

"This wasn't a real mission, Sakura. We were kidnapped, you know," Snowflake said with a stern frown.

"I know!" Sakura pouted, "but still! I wish I could've been there to help!"

Before they could turn this into a fight, Kubo stood and stretched his hands over his head. "So, Mesprit, how are you feeling? Better?" He stepped up to her bed and sat down next to her, across from Sakura. I was surprised at how he seemed to be keeping his cool for once.

"Somewhat... My body doesn't complain nearly as loudly whenever I try to move." She said, frowning softly. "But I am not yet fully restored..."

"It's okay," I smiled, "You'll be fine... and until then you can still help out a lot! Like you already have!"

Mesprit grinned, "Thank you, Moss... I will do all I can to help protect our world."

"And you know we appreciate it," Sakura smiled at her. Kubo placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Yeah! You're a big help!"

"Thank you..."

It was a little bit later, when Heliolisk came knocking at our door.

The door slowly opened, and standing behind Heliolisks tail, with his head bowed low and embarrassed, was Hunter. He was just as laced in bandages as the rest of us. Heliolisk left with a smile and nod, and Hunter cautiously came in, his eyes on the ground. As he entered the room, Kubo jumped to his feet so he could come over and pat the zorua on his back.

"Hey dude, what's up?" He smiled welcomingly.

"I..." He tried to reply, but then suddenly burst into tears.

Hey, hey..! It's okay.." Kubo pet him gently. I stood from my bed so I could run to him and give the zorua a hug. He bumped his head against my chest and snobbed. "What's... wrong with him?" Kubo asked in concern. "Is he hurt?"

"He's really grateful.. and happy too," Mesprit smiled from her place on her bed. "He's finally been accepted... such large feelings are hard to digest at first, but he'll be fine." She giggled and beamed at the us. I could tell that she liked him already.

Sakura, on the other hand, seemed a bit more hesitant. As Hunter calmed down, me and Kubo let him go. She stepped up to him and sniffed at him. "So you're Hunter, huh? Seems I'm always out of the picture when you're involved..."

Hunter wiped his face with a paw and smiled apologetically, "y-yeah I guess so- I-I'm sorry I knocked you out that one time.. and impersonated you.."

"Well if Moss, Kubo and Snowflake all trust you, I guess I'll have to forgive you," she tilted her head playfully. Hunter didn't notice the tease and bowed his head sadly. She nudged him and grinned slightly. "Hey, I'm sure you're fine! And it'll be great to finally have a roomie!"

Hunter frowned at her in confusion. "A roomie..?"

"Come on! I'll show you our room. You'll be with me, cause there's not enough room in here!" She smiled cheerily at him (I wondered if it was perhaps a bit too cheerily?) and I watched as Hunter followed her to the door.

He turned back and smiled at us. 'Thanks, guys..." his eyes shimmered happily, and we nodded encouragingly. He nodded back, and left with Sakura. As the door clicked shut, Kubo shook his head.

"Are you sure the other members of the guild will accept him too?" Kubo asked, crossing his arms and turning to frown at us worriedly.

"Maybe..." I said hopefully, "If Heliolisk didn't tell them who the thief was, then he'd just be another recruit!" I smiled, but I wasn't quite sure, even of my own words.

We continued to talk a little more.. but even as noon came closer, none of us was feeling well enough to get up and work at anything.

"What should we do?" Snowflake asked, "can we really afford to just sit here?"

"You already accomplished a lot," Mesprit said with a soft smile, "you saved Cosmoem and Tapu koko, and closed one of the portals... you deserve a break." Her gentle encouragement made Kubo blush, and she only grinned wider upon seeing that. I wondered if she was always like that with everyone.

"Well, not a very long one," Kubo huffed, flustered, "We have work to do, still!"

"How about we get some sleep for now?" I asked with a soft laugh, "I'm still so exhausted... It wouldn't be bad for me to sleep in the middle of the day?" My friends shook their heads and even agreed with me. it seemed we were all still quite exhausted from our adventure... As Kubo, Snowflake and I all settled down to sleep, Cosmoem slowly lifted up into the air, and flew over to me. She plopped down into my lap.

I tilted my head and wrapped my arms around her. "Are you gonna help us come up with a plan tomorrow, Cosmoem?" I said, grinning. She didn't respond beyond a small little coo. It sounded more like a snore.

"Good night, Moss..." Snowflake said, curling up beside me. I leaned back against her and shut my eyes tiredly. "you mean good afternoon.." I said back snarkily. I felt her chuckle softly. I grinned to myself- victory!

As I drifted off to sleep, I thought about the Guildmasters true identity and past... I couldn't help but wonder about her. She was so mysterious... but I was sure that everything would figure itself out with time. All the Ultra Beasts, Necrozma and Azelf... everything was so strange, but it would be alright.. we would win. We had to...

It didn't take long before I fell asleep with my arms around my small, precious little friend.


End file.
